Controlling image processing system

ABSTRACT

In an image processing system, when a user request is received from a client apparatus, an image processing management apparatus determines whether the user request can be processed by the image processing system to generate a determination result, and generate an instruction indicating how the image processing system should operate based on the determination result.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C.§ 119 to Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2007-202385 filed on Aug. 2,2007 and 2008-154521 filed on Jun. 12, 2008, in the Japanese PatentOffice, the entire contents of each which is hereby incorporated hereinby reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Example embodiments of the present invention generally relate to anapparatus, method, system, computer program and product each capable ofcontrolling an image processing system, and more specifically relate toan apparatus, method, system, computer program and product each capableof controlling an image processing operation to be performed by an imageprocessing system having a plurality of apparatuses connected via anetwork.

BACKGROUND

Recently, a plurality of image forming apparatuses may be shared by aplurality of client apparatuses through a network. In such case, eachclient apparatus needs to be provided with a printer driver specific toeach one of the plurality of image forming apparatuses on the network.Without the printer driver being installed, the client apparatus is notcapable of generating a printing job having a format specific to eachimage forming apparatus. For this reason, each client apparatus isusually provided with more than one printer driver. Further, the printerdriver being installed on the client apparatus needs to be maintained tobe the current version, for example, when the firmware of the imageforming apparatus is updated due to the addition of a new image formingfunction.

Further, the printer driver, which is installed on the client apparatus,works on an operating system (OS) of the client apparatus such that theprinter driver needs to be designed based on the OS. If the clientapparatus is provided with more than one OS, or the OS with differentversions, the client apparatus is required to install the printer driverspecific to each type or version of the OS. Further, the printer driverbeing installed on the client apparatus needs to be maintained to be thecurrent version, for example, when the version of the OS is updated.

As described above, management of one or more printer drivers in eachclient apparatus, which is usually operated by the human, has beencumbersome. In view of these limitations, Japanese Patent ApplicationPublication No. 2004-7346 describes an image forming apparatus capableof providing a plurality of image forming functions, without requiring acomputer terminal to install a plurality of drivers. However, theJapanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-7346 does not describethe case in which the user desires to perform various processing beforeor after image forming, which is not supported by the image formingapparatus.

SUMMARY

Example embodiments of the present invention include an image processingmanagement apparatus including a registrar, a session manager, and aservice manager. The registrar receives device information from aservice providing apparatus provided on a network via the network. Thedevice information includes image processing function informationregarding an image processing function provided by the service providingapparatus. The session manager receives an image processing request froma first apparatus provided on the network via the network. The imageprocessing request is generated by the first apparatus according to auser instruction for applying image processing to input data to generateoutput data. The image processing request includes image processinginformation regarding the image processing to be applied to the inputdata to generate the output data. The service manager determines whetherthe service providing apparatus is capable of applying the imageprocessing specified by the image processing information by referring tothe image processing function information to generate a first servicedetermination result. When the service determination result indicatesthat the service providing apparatus is capable of applying the imageprocessing specified by the image processing information, the servicemanager generates an image processing instruction to cause the serviceproviding apparatus to apply the image processing specified by the imageprocessing information using the image processing function.

Example embodiments of the present invention include an informationprocessing apparatus including a user interface, a session manager, animage processing information manager, and a user interface manager. Theuser interface interacts with the user. The session manager receivesimage processing function information from an image processingmanagement apparatus provided on a network via the network. The imageprocessing information manager manages the image processing functioninformation. The user interface manager generates a screen including theimage processing function information and causes the user interface todisplay the screen. The user interface further receives a userinstruction from the user for applying image processing to input data togenerate output data, which is selected from the image processingfunction information included in the screen.

Example embodiments of the present invention include an image formingapparatus including a user interface, a session manager, an imageprocessing information manager, and a user interface manager. The userinterface interacts with the user. The session manager receives imageprocessing function information from an image processing managementapparatus provided on a network via the network. The image processinginformation manager manages the image processing function information.The user interface manager generates a screen including the imageprocessing function information and causes the user interface to displaythe screen. The user interface further receives a user instruction fromthe user for applying image processing to input data to generate outputdata, which is selected from the image processing function informationincluded in the screen.

Example embodiments of the present invention include an image processingsystem including a first apparatus, a service providing apparatus, andan image processing management apparatus, each of which is provided on anetwork. The first apparatus generates an image processing requestaccording to a user instruction for applying image processing to inputdata to generate output data. The image processing request includesimage processing information regarding the image processing to beapplied to the input data to generate the output data. The serviceproviding apparatus includes an image processing apparatus capable ofproviding an image processing function. The image processing managementapparatus receives device information from the service providingapparatus via the network, which includes image processing functioninformation regarding the image processing function provided by theimage management apparatus of the service providing apparatus. When theimage processing request is received from the first apparatus, the imageprocessing management apparatus determines whether the service providingapparatus is capable of applying the image processing specified by theimage processing information by referring to the image processingfunction information to generate a first service determination result,and generates an image processing instruction based on the first servicedetermination result.

Example embodiments of the present invention include an image processingmanagement method including: receiving device information from a serviceproviding apparatus provided on a network via the network, the deviceinformation including image processing function information regarding animage processing function provided by the service providing apparatus;receiving an image processing request from a first apparatus provided onthe network via the network, the image processing request beinggenerated by the first apparatus according to a user instruction forapplying image processing to input data to generate output data, theimage processing request including image processing informationregarding the image processing to be applied to the input data togenerate the output data; determining whether the service providingapparatus is capable of applying the image processing specified by theimage processing information by referring to the image processingfunction information to generate a service determination result; andgenerating an instruction based on the service determination result.

Example embodiments of the present invention include a storage mediumincluding a plurality of instructions which causes, when executed by aprocessor, the processor to perform an image processing managementmethod. The image processing management method includes: receivingdevice information from a service providing apparatus provided on anetwork via the network, the device information including imageprocessing function information regarding an image processing functionprovided by the service providing apparatus; receiving an imageprocessing request from a first apparatus provided on the network viathe network, the image processing request being generated by the firstapparatus according to a user instruction for applying image processingto input data to generate output data, the image processing requestincluding image processing information regarding the image processing tobe applied to the input data to generate the output data; determiningwhether the service providing apparatus is capable of applying the imageprocessing specified by the image processing information by referring tothe image processing function information to generate a servicedetermination result; and generating an instruction based on the servicedetermination result.

Example embodiments of the present invention include a storage mediumincluding a plurality of instructions which causes, when executed by aprocessor, the processor to perform an image processing managementmethod. The image processing management method includes: receiving imageprocessing function information from an image processing managementapparatus provided on a network via the network; generating a screenincluding the image processing function information; displaying thescreen to a user; and generating an image processing request accordingto a user instruction for applying image processing to input data togenerate output data, the image processing being selected from imageprocessing function information included in the screen.

In addition to the above-described example embodiments, the presentinvention may be practiced in various other ways.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the disclosure and many of the attendantadvantages and features thereof can be readily obtained and understoodfrom the following detailed description with reference to theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an illustration for explaining a configuration of an imageprocessing system according to an example embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the hardware structureof an image forming apparatus according to an example embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the structure of aninformation processing apparatus according to an example embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the functionalstructure of a printing controller of the information processingapparatus shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an illustration for explaining an image processing functionmanaged by the printing controller of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the structure of asession management server according to an example embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 7 is an illustration for explaining device information managed bythe session management server shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the structure of aservice management server according to an example embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 9 is an illustration for explaining device information managed bythe service management server shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the structure of aservice providing server according to an example embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 11 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation of processinga user request, according to an example embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 12 is an illustration for explaining information contained in auser request, according to an example embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 13 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation of processinga user request, according to an example embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating operation of managing an imageprocessing system, performed by the session management server of FIG. 1,according to an example embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation of processinga user request, according to an example embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 16 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation of processinga user request, according to an example embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 17 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation of processinga user request, according to an example embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 18 is an illustration for explaining a configuration of an imageprocessing system according to an example embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 19 is an illustration for explaining device information managed bythe session management server shown in FIG. 18;

FIG. 20 is an illustration for explaining a configuration of an imageprocessing system according to an example embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 21 is an illustration for explaining device information managed bythe session management server shown in FIG. 20;

FIG. 22 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the functionalstructure of a printing controller of the information processingapparatus shown in FIG. 20;

FIG. 23 is an illustration for explaining a post processing functionmanaged by the printing controller shown in FIG. 22;

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating operation of determining postprocessing operation, performed by the session management server shownin FIG. 20, according to an example embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 25 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation of processinga user request, according to an example embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 26 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation of managingimage processing based on route information, according to an exampleembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 27 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation of managingimage processing based on route information, according to an exampleembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 28 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation of processinga user request, according to an example embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 29 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the functionalstructure of a portion of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 2,according to an example embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 30 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the structure of asession management server, according to an example embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 31 is an illustration for explaining operation of registering,performed by an image processing system, according to an exampleembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 32 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the structure of aservice management server, according to an example embodiment of thepresent invention.

The accompanying drawings are intended to depict example embodiments ofthe present invention and should not be interpreted to limit the scopethereof. The accompanying drawings are not to be considered as drawn toscale unless explicitly noted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the presentinvention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms“includes” and/or “including”, when used in this specification, specifythe presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

In describing example embodiments shown in the drawings, specificterminology is employed for the sake of clarity. However, the presentdisclosure is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology soselected and it is to be understood that each specific element includesall technical equivalents that operate in a similar manner.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a configuration of an image processing systemis explained according to an example embodiment of the presentinvention. The image processing system of FIG. 1 includes an imageforming apparatus 1, an information processing apparatus 2, a sessionmanagement server 3, a service management server 4, and a serviceproviding server 5. The image forming apparatus 1 and the informationprocessing apparatus 2 are connected to a first network A. The sessionmanagement server 3, the service management server 4, and the serviceproviding server 5 are connected to a second network B. In this example,the first network A and the second network B may each be implemented bya local area network (LAN), for example. Further, the first network Aand the second network B are connected to a third network C, such as theInternet. Further, in this example, it is assumed that the first networkA corresponds to a network of a user using the information processingapparatus 2 and the image forming apparatus 1. It is further assumedthat the second network B corresponds to a network of a service providerproviding the communication service to the user. Further, in thisexample, at least a portion of the first network A, the second networkB, and the third network C may be collectively referred to as thenetwork N.

The image forming apparatus 1 may be implemented by any desired imageforming apparatus capable of performing image forming operationincluding, for example, a printer apparatus, a facsimile apparatus, ascanner apparatus, or a multifunctional apparatus capable of performinga plurality of functions including scanning, faxing, printing, orcopying. The image forming apparatus 1 is further provided with thefunction of communicating via the network N. Further, as described belowreferring to FIG. 18 or 20, any number of the image forming apparatus 1may be provided on any location on the network N.

The information processing apparatus 2 may be implemented by any desiredapparatus having a processor and a memory, which may be provided withthe function of communicating via the network N and the function ofinteracting with the user. The information processing apparatus 2 may beimplemented by, for example, any desired computer, personal digitalassistant (PDA) device, mobile phone, car navigation system, digitalcamera, digital video, etc.

The session management server 3 and the service management server 4,which may be collectively referred to as an image processing managementapparatus 6, may together control operation of the image processingsystem of FIG. 1. For example, the session management server 3 mayprovide the function of managing communication among a plurality ofapparatuses provided on the network N. At least one of the sessionmanagement server 3 and the service management server 4 may provide anyone of a plurality of functions including, for example, the function ofmanaging various information regarding the plurality of apparatusesprovided on the network N such as device information obtainable from theplurality of apparatus on the network N, the function of determining howan image processing operation is performed by at least one of theplurality of apparatuses provided on the network N, the function ofdetermining how a data transferring operation is performed by at leastone of the plurality of apparatuses provided on the network N, thefunction of determining how an image forming operation is performed byat least one of the plurality of apparatuses provided on the network N,and the function of determining how a post processing operation isperformed by at least one of the plurality of apparatuses provided onthe network N. The image processing management apparatus 6 may beimplemented by any number of devices, for example, depending on aspecific function to be provided. Further, the image processingmanagement apparatus 6 may be implemented by any number of devices eachhaving a processor and a memory.

The service providing server 5, which may be implemented by any numberof devices each capable of communicating via the network N, may providea specific service to any one of the plurality of apparatuses providedon the network N via the network N according to an instruction receivedfrom the image processing management apparatus 6. The service providingserver 5 may be implemented by any desired apparatus having a processorand a memory, which may be provided with the function of communicatingvia the network N and the function of providing a function such as animage processing function.

In one example operation, at least one of the image forming apparatus 1and the information processing apparatus 2, which may be referred to asa client apparatus, may receive a user instruction for applying imageprocessing to input data to generate output data. The input data may begenerated or edited by the information processing apparatus 2.Alternatively, the input data may be obtained by the image formingapparatus 1 by scanning an original document. Further, the input datamay be stored in any location on the network N, such as in a storageprovided in any one of the apparatuses provided on the network N. Whenthe user instruction is received, the client apparatus may generate animage processing request, which includes image processing informationregarding image processing to be applied to the input data to generatethe output data, and send the image processing request to the imageprocessing management apparatus 6 via the network. When the imageprocessing request is received, the image processing managementapparatus 6 may determine whether any one of the apparatuses provided onthe network N is capable of applying the image processing specified bythe image processing information to generate a service determinationresult. For example, the image processing management apparatus 6 mayreceive device information from the apparatuses provided on the networkN such as the service providing server 5, and store the deviceinformation in a storage provided on the network N. Using the deviceinformation, which includes image processing function informationindicating an image processing function to be provided by the serviceproviding server 5, for example, the image processing managementapparatus 6 may generate the service determination result. When theservice determination result indicates that the service providing server5 is capable of applying the image processing specified by the imageprocessing information, the image processing management apparatus 6 maygenerate an image processing instruction that causes the serviceprovider server 5 to apply the image processing to the input data togenerate the output data. The image processing management apparatus 6may send the image processing instruction directly to the serviceproviding server 5 or via another apparatus provided on the network Nsuch as the client apparatus.

After applying the image processing specified by the image processinginformation, the service providing server 5 may store the output data inany storage provided on the network N according to an instructionreceived from the image processing management apparatus 6.Alternatively, the service providing server 5 may send the output datato which the image processing is applied to any apparatus, such as theimage processing management apparatus 6 or the client apparatus,according to an instruction received from the image processingmanagement apparatus 6.

In the above-described example of processing the image processingrequest, when the service determination result indicating whether theservice providing server 5 is capable of applying the image processingspecified by the image processing information indicates that there ismore than one device of the service providing server 5, the imageprocessing management apparatus 6 may select one of the devices of theservice providing server 5, for example, based on the device informationof the service providing server 5 such as the address information or thestatus information.

In the above-described example of processing the image processingrequest, when the image processing specified by the image processinginformation includes a plurality of image processing operations, and theservice determination result indicates that a plurality of devices ofthe service providing server 5 applies at least one of the plurality ofimage processing operations, the image processing management apparatus 6may further determine an order of applying the plurality of imageprocessing operations to generate a processing order determinationresult to cause the service providing server 5 to apply the plurality ofimage processing operations in the order specified by the processingorder determination result. For example, the image processing managementapparatus 6 may generate route information based on the processing orderdetermination result, which indicates a route of transferring the imagedata from one device to another device of the service providing server5. Based on the route information, the image processing managementapparatus 6 may generate an instruction, such as an image transferinstruction or an image processing instruction.

In another example operation, at least one of the image formingapparatus 1 and the information processing apparatus 2, which may bereferred to as the client apparatus, may receive a user instruction forforming an image of image data. The image data may be generated oredited by the information processing apparatus 2. Alternatively, theimage data may be obtained by the image forming apparatus 1 by scanningan original document. Further, the image data may be stored in anylocation on the network N, such as in a storage provided in any one ofthe apparatuses provided on the network N. Further, the image data maybe processed image data to which image processing is applied by, forexample, the service providing server 5. When the user instruction isreceived, the client apparatus may generate an image forming request,which includes image data information regarding a data format of theimage data, and send the image forming request to the image processingmanagement apparatus 6 via the network N. When the image forming requestis received, the image processing management apparatus 6 may determinewhether the image forming apparatus 1 is capable of interpreting thedata format of the image data to generate a service determinationresult. For example, the image processing management apparatus 6 mayreceive device information from the image forming apparatus 1, and storethe device information in a storage provided on the network N. Using thedevice information, which includes data format information regarding adata format interpretable by the image forming apparatus 1, for example,the image processing management apparatus 6 may generate the servicedetermination result. When the service determination result indicatesthat the image forming apparatus 1 is capable of interpreting the dataformat of the image data, the image processing management apparatus 6may generate an image forming instruction that causes the image formingapparatus 1 to form an image of the image data. The image processingmanagement apparatus 6 may send the image forming instruction directlyto the image forming apparatus 1 or via another apparatus provided onthe network N such as the information processing apparatus 2.

In the above-described example of processing the image forming request,information regarding the data format of the image data may be directlyobtained from an image data file, for example, when the image data fileis being sent to the image processing management apparatus 6 togetherwith the image forming request.

In the above-described example of processing the image forming request,when the service determination result indicates that the image formingapparatus 1 is not capable of interpreting the data format of the imagedata, the image processing management apparatus 6 may determine whetherany one of the apparatuses on the network N, such as the serviceproviding server 5, is capable of applying data conversion to cause theimage data to be converted to the data format interpretable by the imageforming apparatus 1 to generate a determination result. For example, theimage processing management apparatus 6 may receive device informationfrom the service providing server 5, and store the device information ina storage provided on the network N. Using the device information, whichincludes image processing function information indicating an imageprocessing function to be provided by the service providing server 5,for example, the image processing management 6 may generate the servicedetermination result. When the service determination result indicatesthat the service providing server 5 is capable of applying the dataconversion, the image processing management apparatus 6 may generate adata conversion instruction that causes the service providing server 5to apply the data conversion to the image data to be in the data formatinterpretable by the image forming apparatus 1. The image processingmanagement apparatus 6 may send the data conversion instruction directlyto the service providing server 5 or via another apparatus provided onthe network N such as information processing apparatus 1.

In the above-described example of processing the image forming request,when the service determination result indicating whether the serviceproviding server 5 is capable of applying the data conversion indicatesthat there is more than one device of the service providing server 5,the image processing management apparatus 6 may select one of thedevices of the service providing server 5, for example, based on thedevice information of the service providing server 5 such as the addressinformation or the status information.

In another example operation, at least one of the image formingapparatus 1 and the information processing apparatus 2, which may bereferred to as the client apparatus, may receive a user instruction forapplying post processing to a sheet having an image formed thereon. Thesheet with the image may be generated by the image forming apparatus 1.When the user instruction is received, the client apparatus may generatea post processing request, which includes post processing informationregarding post processing to be applied to the sheet with the image, andsend the post processing request to the image processing managementapparatus 6 via the network. When the post processing request isreceived, the image processing management apparatus 6 may determinewhether any one of the apparatuses provided on the network N is capableof applying the post processing specified by the post processinginformation to generate a service determination result. For example, theimage processing management apparatus 6 may receive device informationfrom the apparatuses provided on the network N such as the image formingapparatus 1, and store the device information in a storage provided onthe network N. Using the device information, which includes postprocessing function information indicating a post processing function tobe provided by the image forming apparatus 1, for example, the imageprocessing management apparatus 6 may generate the service determinationresult. When the service determination result indicates that the imageforming apparatus 1 is capable of applying the post processing specifiedby the post processing information, the image processing managementapparatus 6 may generate a post processing instruction that causes theimage forming apparatus 1 to apply the post processing to the sheet withthe image. The image processing management apparatus 6 may send the postprocessing instruction directly to the image forming apparatus 1 or viaanother apparatus provided on the network N such as the informationprocessing apparatus 2.

In the above-described example of processing the post processingrequest, when the service determination result indicating whether theimage forming apparatus 1 is capable of applying the post processingindicates that there is more than one apparatus of the image formingapparatus 1, the image processing management apparatus 6 may select oneof the apparatuses of the image forming apparatus 1, for example, basedon the device information of the image forming apparatus 1 such as theaddress information or the status information.

In the above-described example of processing the post processingrequest, when the service determination result indicates that the imageforming apparatus 1 or any other image forming apparatus provided on thenetwork N is not capable of applying the post processing specified bythe post processing information, the image processing managementapparatus 6 may send a notice to the client apparatus.

In another example, at least one of the image forming apparatus 1 andthe information processing apparatus 2, which may be referred to as theclient apparatus, may receive a user instruction to transfer image datafrom a first apparatus to a second apparatus via the network N. Theimage data may be generated or edited by the information processingapparatus 2. Alternatively, the image data may be obtained by the imageforming apparatus 1 by scanning an original document. Further, the imagedata may be stored in any location on the network N, such as in astorage provided in any one of the apparatuses provided on the networkN. Further, the image data may be processed image data to which imageprocessing is applied by, for example, the service providing server 5.When the user instruction is received, the client apparatus may generatean image transfer request, which includes information regarding thefirst apparatus and the second apparatus, and send the image transferrequest to the image processing management apparatus 6 via the networkN. When the image transfer request is received, the image processingmanagement apparatus 6 may determine whether the first apparatus and thesecond apparatus are each capable of communicating to generate a servicedetermination result. For example, the image processing managementapparatus 6 may receive device information from the first apparatus andthe second apparatus, and store the device information in a storageprovided on the network N. Using the device information, which includesstatus information regarding a current status of the first apparatus andthe second apparatus, for example, the image processing managementapparatus 6 may generate the service determination result. When theservice determination result indicates that the first apparatus and thesecond apparatus are capable of communicating, the image processingmanagement apparatus 6 may generate a session start instruction thatcauses the first apparatus and the second apparatus to establish asession. The image processing management apparatus 6 may send thesession start instruction to at least one of the first apparatus and thesecond apparatus, or via another apparatus provided on the network Nsuch as the information processing apparatus 2. After the session isestablished, the image data may be transferred from the first apparatusto the second apparatus.

In the above-described example of processing the image transfer request,alternatively, the image processing management apparatus 6 may establisha session respectively with the first apparatus and the secondapparatus. In such case, the image data may be transferred from thefirst apparatus to the second apparatus via the image processingmanagement apparatus 6.

The image processing system of FIG. 1 may be implemented in variousother ways. For example, the service providing server 5 may beintegrated within the image processing management apparatus 6. Inanother example, any number of devices of the service providing server 5may be provided on the first network A as illustrated in FIG. 1. Inanother example, any number of devices of the image processingmanagement apparatus 6 may be provided on the first network A. Inanother example, the image forming apparatus 1 may be provided on thesecond network B. In another example, the image processing managementapparatus 6 and at least one of the image forming apparatus 1, theinformation processing apparatus 2, and the service providing server 5may be provided on the network N. In another example, any one of theinformation processing apparatus 2, the image forming apparatus 1, andthe service providing server 5 may collectively referred to as a serviceproviding apparatus based on the function to provide a specific serviceto the image processing system of FIG. 1.

Referring now to FIG. 2, an example structure of the image formingapparatus 1 is explained according to an example embodiment of thepresent invention. The image forming apparatus 1 includes a controller100, an automatic document feeder (ADF) 101, a scanner 102, an outputtray 103, an operation panel 104, a document tray 105, a printer engine106, an output tray 107, and a network interface (I/F) 108, which may beelectrically coupled or connected with one another as the arrowsindicate. The controller 110 includes a main controller 111, an enginecontroller 112, an input/output (I/O) controller 113, an image processor114, and an operation panel controller 115, which may be connected orcoupled via an internal bus.

The operation panel 104 may function as a user interface, which allows auser to input various information to the image forming apparatus 1, forexample, by providing an input device such as various kinds of keys orbuttons that may be pressed or selected by the user, a microphone, etc.Alternatively or additionally, the operation panel 104 may function as auser interface, which allows a user to obtain various information outputby the image forming apparatus 1, for example, by providing an outputdevice such as a display or a speaker. In this example, the operationpanel 104 may be implemented by a liquid crystal display (LCD)integrated with a touch panel. The touch panel may allow the user tomake the selection or instruction according to the contents of thescreen displayed by the LCD. The contents of the screen may becontrolled by the main controller 111 via the operation panel controller115. For example, the selection or instruction made by the user may besent to the main controller 110 via the operation panel controller 115.The main controller 110 analyzes the user input, and changes thecontents of the screen according to the user input via the operationpanel controller 115.

The ADF 101 feeds an original document, which may be placed on adocument tray of the ADF 101, to an image reading section of the scanner102. The scanner 102 reads the original document into image data, whichmay be provided by the ADF 101 or provided on an exposure glass of thescanner 102. The scanner 102 may be provided with a plurality of devicesincluding a lighting device capable of emitting a light to the originaldocument, and an imaging device such as a charged coupled device (CCD)capable of converting a light reflected from the original document intoan image signal. The original document, which may be read by the scanner102, may be output onto the output tray 103. The image data beingobtained by the scanner 102 may be stored in any desired memory of theimage forming apparatus 1 after being processed by the image processor114. Alternatively or additionally, the image data being obtained by thescanner 102 may be sent to another apparatus on the network N throughthe network I/F 108 after being processed by the image processor 114 orbeing stored in the memory.

The document tray 105 stores a plurality of recording sheets. Theprinter engine 106 may include a plurality of devices to be used forforming an image of print data on a recording sheet using any desiredimage forming method including, for example, inkjet method,electrophotographic method, etc. The document tray 105 provides arecording sheet to the printer engine 106. The printed sheet is outputonto the output tray 107.

The network I/F 108 allows the image forming apparatus 1 to communicatewith a counterpart apparatus, such as the session management server 3,the information processing apparatus 2 or any other apparatus providedon the network N. For example, the network I/F 108 may be implemented bya network interface card capable of communicating in compliance with theEthernet or Universal Serial Bus (USB). Further, in this example, thenetwork I/F 108 may be provided with an input/output port for signalingchannel, and an input/output port for data channel. For improvedsecurity, the input/output port for data channel is kept closed. When asession start instruction is received, for example, from the imageprocessing management apparatus 6, the input/output port for datachannel is made open so as to be ready for receiving data that may besent from another apparatus provided on the network N.

The controller 110 may control operation of the image forming apparatus1. For example, the controller 110 may be implemented by a processorsuch as a central processing unit (CPU) provided with a memory. Thememory may include a volatile memory such as a dynamic random accessmemory (DRAM) or a RAM, and a non-volatile memory such as a read onlymemory (ROM), non-volatile RAM, or a hard disk drive (HDD).

The volatile memory may function as a work area of the CPU. Thenon-volatile memory may store various data including a sessionmanagement program to be executed by the CPU. For example, uponactivation of the image forming apparatus 100 or upon receiving arequest from the user, the CPU may load the session management programfrom the non-volatile memory onto the volatile memory, and performsession management operation according to the session managementprogram. Alternatively, the session management program may be stored ina removable memory such as an optical disc, and read out by the imageforming apparatus 1. In such case, a device, such as a removable memoryreader, may be additionally provided. Alternatively, the sessionmanagement program may be stored in any storage device provided on thenetwork N, and downloaded by the image forming apparatus 1 through thenetwork I/F 108.

As shown in FIG. 2, the controller 110 may include one or morecomponents depending on the function to be performed. The maincontroller 111 controls entire operation of the controller 110. Theengine controller 112 controls operation of one or more devices used forimage forming, such as the printer engine 106 or the scanner 102.

The I/O controller 113 controls transmission or reception of datathrough the network I/F 108 under control of the main controller 111.Further, in this example, the I/O controller 113 may perform operationof managing a session, which may be established between the imageforming apparatus 1 and any other apparatus provided on the network N,such as the session management server 3 or the information processingapparatus 2, according to the session management program.

For example, referring to FIG. 29, the I/O controller 113 may beprovided with a session manager 151. In order to manage a session, theI/O controller 113 may manage various information to be used forcommunication with another apparatus, such as address information, orauthentication information that may be used for secured communication.

Further, in this example, the session manager 151 may send a userrequest, which may be generated by the image forming apparatus 1according to a user instruction received through the operation panel104. Examples of the user request may include, but not limited to, arequest for applying image processing, a request for transferring imagedata, a request for forming an image, and a request for applying postprocessing. Further, in this example, the session manager 151 mayreceive any data, such as a response or an instruction, from anyapparatus provided on the network N.

Additionally, the I/O controller 113 may include an image processinginformation manager 152 and a user interface (UI) manager 153. The imageprocessing information manager 152 manages image processing functioninformation, which indicates various image processing functions providedby the image processing system of FIG. 1, which may be described belowreferring to FIG. 5.

The UI manager 153 manages various information regarding a graphicaluser interface (GUI), which may be displayed to the user through theoperation panel 104 when requesting the user to input a userinstruction, such as a user instruction for image processing or imageforming, before generating a request.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the image processor 114 may perform variousimage processing to image data. For example, the image processor 114 maygenerate print data to be output to the printer engine 106, based onimage data being input. The image data may be input by the scanner 102or received from the network I/F 108. Alternatively, the image data maybe previously stored in a memory of the image forming apparatus 1.Further, the image processor 114 may receive print data to be outputfrom the network I/F 108.

In one example operation, the image forming apparatus 1 may performprinting operation. When the I/O controller 113 receives a printingrequest through the network I/F 108, the I/O controller 113 notifies themain controller 111 that the printing request is received. When thenotification is received, the main controller 111 may cause the imageprocessor 114 to generate print data according to the printing request.Further, the main controller 111 may cause the engine controller 112 tofeed a recording sheet to the printer engine 106 from the document tray105. The engine controller 112 may instruct the printer engine 106 toform an image of the print data on the recording sheet being fed by thedocument tray 105. The recording sheet having the image thereon may beoutput to the output tray 107.

In another example operation, the image forming apparatus 1 may performscanning operation. When the operation panel controller 115 receives ascanning request through the operation panel 104, the operation panelcontroller 115 notifies the main controller 111 that the scanningrequest is received. Alternatively, when the I/O controller 113 receivesa scanning request through the network I/F 108, the I/O controller 113notifies the main controller 111 that the scanning request is received.When notification is received, the main controller 111 may cause theengine controller 112 to instruct the ADF 101 to feed the originaldocument to the image reading section of the scanner 102 when theoriginal document is provided to the ADF 101. Alternatively, theoriginal document may be provided to the scanner 102. Under control ofthe main controller 111, the engine controller 112 may further cause thescanner 102 to scan the original document into image data. The enginecontroller 112 further causes the image data being obtained by thescanner 102 to be sent to the image processor 114. Under control of themain controller 111, the image processor 114 may apply image processingto the image data. The image data being processed may be stored in anydesired memory of the image forming apparatus 1. Alternatively, theimage data being processed may be sent to another apparatus on thenetwork N through the I/O controller 113 and the network I/F 108.

In another example operation, the image forming apparatus 1 may performcopying operation. When the operation panel controller 115 receives acopying request through the operation panel 104, the operation panelcontroller 115 notifies the main controller 111 that the copying requestis received. When the notification is received, the main controller 111may cause the scanner 102 to generate image data, and the imageprocessor 114 to perform image processing to the image data to generateprint data. Under control of the main controller 111, the enginecontroller 112 causes the printer engine 106 to print an image of theprint data.

In another example operation, the image forming apparatus 1 may performdata transferring operation. When the I/O controller 113 receives a datatransfer request through the network I/F 108, the I/O controller 113notifies the main controller 111 that the data transfer request isreceived. When the notification is received, the main controller 111 maysend the image data to another apparatus on the network N through theI/O controller 113 and the network I/F 108.

The image forming apparatus 1 of FIG. 2 may be implemented in variousother ways. For example, the image forming apparatus 1 may beadditionally provided with the function of sending or receiving faxdata. In such case, a fax controller and a fax communication interfacemay be additionally provided. When performing faxing operation, when theoperation panel controller 115 receives a faxing request through theoperation panel 104, the operation panel controller 115 notifies themain controller 111 that the faxing request is received. When thenotification is received, the main controller 111 may cause the scanner102 to generate image data, and the image processor 114 to perform imageprocessing to the image data. The main controller 111 may further causethe fax controller to send the image data to another apparatus throughthe fax communication I/F via a communication line, such as a publicswitched telephone network (PSTN).

Referring now to FIG. 3, a hardware structure of the informationprocessing apparatus 2 is explained according to an example embodimentof the present invention. The information processing apparatus 2 mainlyincludes a main controller 201, an application 202, a data storage 203,a network I/F 204, a printing controller 205, and a user I/F 206.

The main controller 201 controls operation of the information processingapparatus 2. The main controller 201 may be implemented by a processorprovided with a memory, such as a central processing unit (CPU) providedwith a ROM and a RAM.

The application 202 may include various kinds of application programsthat may be run on an operating system (OS) installed on the informationprocessing apparatus 2. Examples of the application 202 may include, butnot limited to, any desired application program providing the functionof generating or editing data such as a word processing program, adrawing program, and a spreadsheet program, or any desired applicationprogram providing the function of allowing web browsing such as a webbrowser. The application 202 may be activated by the user at any desiredtime. Alternatively, the application 202 may be activated upon executionof the main controller 201.

The data storage 203 may store various data including, for example, theimage data generated by the application 202, various information to beused for communication with a counterpart apparatus, or variousinformation to be used for generating a request. In this example, thedata storage 203 may be implemented by any desired non-volatile memory,such as a hard disk drive (HDD).

The network I/F 204 may function as an interface, which allows theinformation processing apparatus 2 to communicate with a counterpartapparatus such as the image processing management apparatus 6 or theimage forming apparatus 1 via the network N.

The printing controller 205 may manage various information regardingimage processing or image forming to be requested by the user. Forexample, the printing controller 205 may allow the user to determinesettings information regarding image forming, for example, by requestingthe user to confirm the printing settings. In another example, theprinting controller 205 may provide information regarding the printingoperation to the user, which is obtained through monitoring the printingoperation performed by the image processing system shown in FIG. 1.

In this example, the printing controller 205 may be provided in the formof computer program, which may be previously stored in any desiredstorage device or medium. For example, upon activation of the CPU of themain controller 201, the computer program, which may be referred to asthe printing control program, may be loaded onto the memory of the maincontroller 201 to cause the CPU of the main controller 201 to have thefunction of the printing controller 205.

The user I/F 206 may function as an interface, which allows interactionbetween the information processing apparatus 2 and the user. The userI/F 206 may be implemented by an input device such as a mouse, akeyboard, a microphone, etc., and an output device such as a display, aspeaker, etc. Alternatively, the user I/F 206 may be implemented by adisplay provided with a touch panel. Through the user I/F 206, the usermay be able to operate the image processing system of FIG. 1 through theinformation processing apparatus 2 or obtain information regarding theimage processing system of FIG. 1 through the information processingapparatus 2.

Referring now to FIG. 4, an example structure of the printing controller205 of FIG. 3 is explained according to an example embodiment of thepresent invention. The printing controller 205 of FIG. 4 includes animage processing information manager 251, a session manager 252, aprinter information manager 253, and a user interface (UI) manager 255.

The image processing information manager 251 manages image processingfunction information, which indicates various image processing functionsprovided by the image processing system of FIG. 1. For example, asillustrated in FIG. 5, the image processing function information mayinclude information regarding a plurality of image processing functionsincluding editing such as combining or enlarging/reducing, thumbnailprinting, color adjusting, color reducing, embedding, still imageextracting, etc.

The editing function includes the function of combining a plurality ofpages so as to fit into one sheet of recording medium, the function ofadjusting the order or orientation of a plurality of pages, the functionof printing on one side or both sides of recording medium, the functionof enlarging the image size, the function of reducing the image size,etc. The thumbnail printing function allows the user to print athumbnail document that includes a thumbnail image generated for imagedata specified by the user. The color adjusting function may adjust thecolor of the image data to be printed, such as hue, brightness, or tone.The color reducing may reduce the color information of image data, forexample, by converting the full-color image data to the binary imagedata. The embedding function allows the user to embed data, such as awatermark, into the image data. The still image extracting functionallows the user to extract one or more still images from the movingimage for printing.

The session manager 252 manages communication between the informationprocessing apparatus 2 and the session management server 3 via thenetwork N, for example, by sending a request for starting a session tothe session management server 3 or managing the session with the sessionmanagement server 3 when established. Alternatively, under control ofthe session management server 3, the session manager 252 controlscommunication between the information processing apparatus 2 and atleast one of a plurality of apparatuses provided on the network N. Inorder to manage communication, or a session, with another apparatus onthe network, the session manager 252 may manage various information tobe used for communication with another apparatus. For example, thesession manager 252 may obtain address information specifying thecurrent location of the counterpart apparatus such as the networkaddress including, for example, IP address that may be stored withrespect to the SIP URI. Additionally, the session manager 252 may obtainauthentication information to be used for secured communication such asencrypted key or decrypted key to establish the virtual private network(VPN) communication.

In this example, in addition to managing a request for starting orestablishing a session, the session manager 252 may send a user request,which may be generated by the information processing apparatus 2according to a user instruction received through the user I/F 206, tothe session management server 3. Examples of the user request mayinclude, but not limited to, a request for applying image processing, arequest for transferring image data, a request for forming an image, anda request for applying post processing. Further, in this example, thesession manager 252 may receive any data, such as a response or aninstruction, from any apparatus provided on the network N.

The printer information manager 253 manages various informationregarding the image forming apparatus 2 or any other image formingapparatus that may be provided on the network N, which may be referredto as the printer information. In this example, the printer informationmay include identification information identifying the image formingapparatus 1, or address information specifying the current location ofthe image forming apparatus 1 such as the network address of the imageforming apparatus 1.

The UI manager 254 manages various information regarding a graphicaluser interface (GUI), which may be displayed to the user through theuser I/F 206 when requesting the user to input a user instruction, suchas a user instruction for image processing or image forming, beforegenerating a request.

Referring to FIGS. 6 to 9, a functional structure of the imageprocessing management apparatus 6 including the session managementserver 3 and the service management server 4 is explained according toan example embodiment of the present invention. In this example,referring to FIG. 6, the session management server 3 includes a maincontroller 301, a session manager 302, a network I/F 303, a deviceinformation storage database (DB) 304, a registrar 305, and a servicemanager 306. Referring to FIG. 8, the service management server 4includes a main controller 401, a service manager 402, a network, I/F403, and a service provider information DB 404.

The main controller 301 controls operation of the session managementserver 3.

The session manager 302 manages communication between the sessionmanagement server 3 and at least one of a plurality of apparatusesprovided on the network N, or communication among at least two of aplurality of apparatuses provided on the network N. For example, whenthe request for starting a session with the session management server 3is received from the information processing apparatus 2, the sessionmanager 302 sends a response to the information processing apparatus 2to establish a session with the information processing apparatus 2. Inanother example, when the request for starting a session with the imageforming apparatus 1 is received from the information processingapparatus 2, the session manager 302 sends a request to the imageforming apparatus 1 to establish a session between the informationprocessing apparatus 2 and the image forming apparatus 1.

In this example, the session manager 302 may receive a request from anyapparatus provided on the network N such as the information processingapparatus 2. When the request is received, the session manager 302 maysend the request to the service manager 306 under control of the maincontroller 301. When an instruction, which may be generated by thesession manager 306, is received under control of the main controller301, the session manager 302 may send the instruction to any apparatusprovided on the network N to cause the apparatus provided on the networkN to process the request being received according to the instruction.

The registrar 302 obtains various information regarding a plurality ofapparatuses provided on the network N at the time of registering. Forexample, when the request for registering is received from the imageforming apparatus 1, the registrar 302 may request the image formingapparatus 1 to send device information regarding the image formingapparatus 1. The device information may be stored in the deviceinformation DB 304 or the service provider information DB 404. Examplesof the device information may include, but not limited to, locationinformation specifying a current address of the image forming apparatus1 such as IP address that may be stored with respect to the SIP URI,image processing function information regarding an image processingfunction to be provided by the image forming apparatus 1, and dataformat information interpretable by the image forming apparatus 1.Additionally, at the time of registering, the registrar 205 may requestthe image forming apparatus 1 to send authentication information such asthe encryption or description key, and store the authenticationinformation in the device information DB 304 or the service providerinformation DB 404. The authentication information may be used forsecured communication, such as VPN communication that may use IPsec,once the session is established.

Referring now to FIG. 7, an example data structure of the deviceinformation DB 304 is explained according to an example embodiment ofthe present invention. In this example, the device information DB 304stores device information for the image forming apparatus 1 and theinformation processing apparatus 2, which may be referred to as theregistered apparatus. The device information DB 304 stores, for eachregistered apparatus, device information including, for example,identification number (ID), identification information (NAME), addressinformation (ADDRESS), authentication information (KEY), data formatinformation (FORMAT), image processing function information (FUNCTION),or current status information (STATUS). The identification number may bearbitrarily assigned to each registered apparatus, for example,according to the order of registration. The identification informationmay be a name uniquely assigned to each registered apparatus. Theaddress information may include a network address of the registeredapparatus such as IP address. The authentication information may includeinformation regarding an encryption or decryption key provided by theregistered apparatus. The data format information may includeinformation regarding a data format interpretable by the registeredapparatus, such as information regarding an application used forgenerating image data, which may be obtainable from the extensionsection of the file name such as “jpg” “pdf”, or “doc” or “MIME” typeinformation. The image processing function information indicates animage processing function to be provided by the registered apparatus,such as an image processing function described above referring to FIG.5. The current status information may include information regarding acurrent status of the registered apparatus, which indicates whether theregistered apparatus is turned on or the registered apparatus isconnected to the network N. Additionally, the device information mayinclude supply information regarding the supply of the image formingapparatus 1, such as the supply of the printer engine 106 including theamount of toner or ink, or the supply of the document tray 105 includingthe amount of recording sheets. The supply information may be obtainedby a detector such as a counter or a sensor that may be provided on theimage forming apparatus 1.

Referring back to FIG. 6, the service manager 306 may generate aninstruction, which may determine operation to be performed by the imageprocessing system of FIG. 1. For example, when the request for formingan image of image data is received from the information processingapparatus 2 through the session manager 306, the service manager 306 mayrefer to the device information DB 304 to determine whether the dataformat of the image data specified by the request is interpretable bythe image forming apparatus 1 to generate a determination result. Inanother example, when the request for applying image processing to imagedata is received from the information processing apparatus 2 through thesession manager 306, the service manager 306 may refer to the deviceinformation DB 304 to determine whether the image processing specifiedby the request can be applied by the image forming apparatus 1 togenerate a determination result. Based on the determination result, theservice manager 306 may generate an instruction specifying how therequest is processed, and cause the session manager 302 to send theinstruction through the network I/F 303.

The network I/F 303 may function as an interface that allowscommunication between the session management server 3 and at least oneof a plurality of apparatuses provided on the network N.

Referring to FIG. 8, the main controller 401 controls operation of theservice management server 4.

The service manager 402 may generate an instruction, which specifiesoperation to be performed by the image processing system of FIG. 1. Forexample, when an instruction for determining whether the serviceproviding server 5 is capable of applying specific data conversion isreceived, the service manager 402 may refer to the service providerinformation DB 404 to determine whether the service providing server 5is capable of applying specific data conversion to generate adetermination result. In another example, when an instruction fordetermining whether the service providing server 5 is capable ofapplying specific image processing is received, the service manager 402may refer to the service provider information DB 404 to determinewhether the service providing server 5 is capable of applying specificimage processing to generate a determination result.

Referring to FIG. 9, an example data structure of the service providerinformation DB 404 is explained according to an example embodiment ofthe present invention. In this example, the service provider informationDB 404 stores device information for the service providing server 5including a plurality of servers each providing a service, such as animage processing function, as described above referring to FIG. 1. Theservice provider information DB 404 stores, for at least one device ofthe service providing server 5, device information including, forexample, identification number (ID), identification information (NAME),address information (ADDRESS), data format information (FORMAT), orimage processing function information (FUNCTION). The identificationnumber may be arbitrarily assigned to each device of the serviceproviding server 5, for example, according to the order of registration.The identification information may be a name uniquely assigned to eachdevice of the service providing server 5. The address information mayinclude a network address of each device of the service providing server5 such as IP address. The data format information may includeinformation regarding a data format interpretable by each device of theservice providing server 5. The image processing function informationindicates an image processing function to be provided by each device ofthe service providing server 5, such as an image processing functiondescribed above referring to FIG. 5. Further, the service providerinformation DB 404 may additionally store authentication information ofeach device of the service providing server 5, such as an encrypted keyor decrypted key, which may be used for secured communication withanother apparatus on the network N.

The network I/F 403 may function as an interface that allowscommunication between the service management server 4 and at least oneof a plurality of apparatuses provided on the network N.

As described above referring to FIG. 1, the session management server 3and the service management server 4 may be implemented as one device.Alternatively, the session manager 302 and the device information DB 304may be provided by the service management server 4. In such case, theservice management server 4 may determine whether the data formatspecified by the request is interpretable by the image forming apparatus1 or the image processing specified by the request can be applied by theimage forming apparatus 1. Further, any one the device information DB304 and the service provider information DB 404 may be provided at anydesired location on the network N. Alternatively, any portion of thedevice information DB 304 and the service provider information DB 404may be provided on a removable medium.

In another example, the service management server 4 does not have to beprovided with the service provider information DB 404. In such case,device information of the service providing server 5 may be obtaineddirectly from the service providing server 5, for example, by usingsimple object access protocol (SOAP). In a substantially similar manner,the session management server 3 does not have to be provided with thedevice information DB 304.

In another example, the image processing management apparatus 6, or atleast one of the session management server 3, the service managementserver 4, and service providing server 5, may provide a web servicecapable of providing at least a portion of the functions of the printingcontroller 205 or the I/O controller 113. In such case, as long as theinformation processing apparatus 2 or the image forming apparatus 1 isprovided with the function of web browsing, such as a web browser, theinformation processing apparatus 2 or the image forming apparatus 1 canprovide the function same as the function of the printing controller 205or the I/O controller 113 described above, even not all components ofthe printing controller 205 or the I/O controller 113 are not provided.

For example, the function provided by the image processing informationmanager 251 may be provided by a server provided on the network B. Insuch case, the information processing apparatus 1 does not have toupdate the image processing function information every time the imageprocessing function information is updated, for example, due to theaddition of a new service providing server 5 or the change in functionof the service providing server 5. In another example, the function ofthe UI manager 255 may be provided by a web server provided on thenetwork B. In such case, information regarding the GUI may be uploadedby the web browser from the web server, and stored in the data storage203.

In another example, referring to FIG. 30, the session management server3 may be additionally provided with an authentication manager 307 havingthe function of authenticating a user and a user information DB 308. Theuser information DB 308 may store user authentication information to beused for user authentication, such as a set of user ID and password foreach registered user. In such case, the session manager 302 may obtainuser authentication information from an apparatus provided on thenetwork N at the time of registering the apparatus. The authenticationmanager 307 may refer to the user information DB 308 to determinewhether the user at the apparatus is a registered user to generate adetermination result. For example, the user authentication informationbeing obtained from the session manager 302 may be compared with theuser authentication information being stored in the user information DB308. Based on the determination result, the session manager 302 mayaccept a request sent or to be sent from the apparatus. In this example,the user information DB 308 may be provided at any desired location onthe network N. However, by providing the user information DB 308separately from the image forming apparatus 1, the user information DB308 may be easily managed by an administrator of the image processingsystem of FIG. 1. For example, when the user is authenticated by theauthentication manager 307 of the session management server 3, the imageforming apparatus 1 may download information regarding the user from theuser information DB 308, and store the information regarding the user inits memory, such as the memory provided in the controller 100. In thismanner, the resource of the image forming apparatus 1 may be efficientlyused.

Referring now to FIG. 10, a functional structure of the serviceproviding server 5 is explained according to an example embodiment ofthe present invention. The service providing server 5 includes a maincontroller 501, a service provider 502, and a network I/F 503.

The main controller 501 controls operation of the service providingserver 5.

The service provider 502 may provide a service, such as an imageprocessing function, to any apparatus provided on the network N, forexample, according to an instruction received from the sessionmanagement server 3 or the service management server 4. For example,when an instruction for applying data conversion to image data isreceived from the service management server 4, the service provider 502may apply data conversion to the image data. In another example, when aninstruction for applying image processing to image data is received fromthe service management server 4, the service provider 502 may applyimage processing to the image data.

The network I/F 503 may function as an interface that allowscommunication between the service providing server 5 and at least one ofa plurality of apparatuses provided on the network N.

As described above referring to FIG. 1, any one of the sessionmanagement server 3, the service management server 4, and the serviceproviding server 5 may be each implemented by any device having aprocessor such as a CPU provided with a memory. In such case, a controlprogram may be previously stored in the memory such as a ROM. Uponexecution of the CPU, the control program being stored in the ROM may beloaded onto a RAM to cause the CPU to operate a plurality of functionsdescribe above referring to any one of FIGS. 6 to 10.

Referring now to FIG. 31, operation of registering a plurality ofapparatuses provided on the network N, performed by the sessionmanagement server 3, is explained according to an example embodiment ofthe present invention. In this example, registration of the imageforming apparatus 1 may be explained as a way of example sinceregistration of the information processing apparatus 2 may be performedin a substantially similar manner.

When the image forming apparatus 1 is connected to the network N and thepower is turned on, at S1, the I/O controller 113 of the image formingapparatus 1 sends a register request for registration to the sessionmanagement server 3, for example, according to the SIP. When theregister request is received, at S2, the session management server 3 mayrequest the image forming apparatus 1 to send authenticationinformation, for example, by sending a response to the image formingapparatus 1. At S3, the image forming apparatus 1 may sendauthentication information to the session management server 3.

At S4, the session management server 3 may store the authenticationinformation when the authentication information includes an encrypted ordecrypted key to be used for secured communication, together with otherinformation such as the address information. Alternatively, at S4, thesession management server 3 may determine whether the user at the imageforming apparatus 1 is a registered user when the authenticationinformation includes user authentication information such as a user IDand a password to generate a determination result. In such case, onlywhen the determination result indicates that the user has beenregistered, the session management server 3 may accept the request sentfrom the image forming apparatus 1 and store information provided by theimage forming apparatus 1.

At S5, the session management server 3 may further request the imageforming apparatus 1 to send device information, for example, by sendinga response to the image forming apparatus 1. At S6, the image formingapparatus 1 may send the device information to the session manager 3.When the device information is received, at S7, the session managementserver 3 may store the device information in the device information DB304.

Further, at S8, the session management server 3 may send a selectedportion of the device information to the image forming apparatus 1.

For example, the image forming apparatus 1 may store image processingfunction information obtained from the session management server 3 inthe image processing information manager 152 (FIG. 29). Based on theimage processing function information, the image forming apparatus 1 maygenerate a GUI that allows the user to input a user instruction forapplying image processing. For example, the UI manager 153 of the I/Ocontroller 113 (FIG. 29) may generate a screen providing a list of imageprocessing functions available for use based on the image processingfunction information being obtained. The main controller 111 (FIG. 2)may cause the operation panel controller 115 to display the screen beinggenerated through the operation panel 104, for example, when a userinstruction is received.

The information processing apparatus 2 may be registered in asubstantially similar manner as described above referring to S1 to S8.At S8, in addition to receiving image processing function information,the information processing apparatus 2 may receive device informationregarding the image forming apparatus 1 from the device information DB304, and store the device information in the printer information manager253 (FIG. 4). Based on the device information obtainable from theprinter information manager 253, the UI manager 254 of the informationprocessing apparatus 1 may generate a screen providing a list of imageforming apparatuses available for use. The main controller 201 (FIG. 3)may cause the user I/F 206 to display the screen being generated, forexample, when a user instruction is received.

Further, any device information that is registered may be updated by thesession management server 3 at any desired time. In one example, thesession management server 3 may periodically request the image formingapparatus 1 or the information processing apparatus 2 to send deviceinformation. In another example, the session management server 3 mayupdate the device information at the time when the image formingapparatus 1 or the information processing apparatus 2 sends presenceinformation indicating that the image forming apparatus 1 or theinformation processing apparatus 2 is on line. In another example, thesession management server 3 may update the device information at thetime of receiving a request, such as a request for image processing or arequest for image forming.

When the device information is updated, the UI manager 153 or 254 mayupdate the screen according to the updated information. For example, afirst screen is assumed to be generated based on the device information,which is obtained from the image processing management apparatus 6 atthe time of registering. When a new device is added, for example, to theservice providing server 5, the device information being obtained fromthe image processing management apparatus 6 may be updated to includedevice information including the new device that has been added.According to the updated information, the first screen is changed to asecond screen that additionally includes at least a part of the deviceinformation regarding the new device.

Referring now to FIGS. 11 to 17, 25, 26, and 27, image processingoperation and image forming operation performed by the image processingsystem of FIG. 1 are explained according to an example embodiment of thepresent invention. In this example, the information processing apparatus2 generates a user request according to a user instruction receivedthrough the user I/F 206. Specifically, in this example, it is assumedthat the user request includes an image processing request that requestsfor specific image processing to be applied to image data to generateprocessed image data, and an image forming request that instructs theimage processing management apparatus 6 to output an image of theprocessed image data through the image forming apparatus 1.

When the user request is received from the information processingapparatus 2, the image processing management apparatus 6 analyzes theuser request to determine how image processing and image forming shouldbe performed by the image processing system of FIG. 1. Specifically, inthis example described below referring to any one of FIGS. 11 to 17, 25,26, and 27, the image processing management apparatus 6 determineswhether the data format of the image data is interpretable by the imageforming apparatus 1, which is designated to process the image formingrequest, to generate a determination result. Further, the imageprocessing management apparatus 6 determines whether the specific imageprocessing can be applied by the image forming apparatus 1 to generate adetermination result. Based on the determination result, the imageprocessing management apparatus 6 may generate an instruction, whichspecifies how a plurality of apparatuses on the network N including theimage forming apparatus 1 and the information processing apparatus 2should operate to process the user request.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example case in which the image processingmanagement apparatus 6 of the image processing system of FIG. 1determines that the image forming apparatus 1 is capable of interpretingthe data format of the image data and applying the specific imageprocessing to the image data to generate the processed image data.

At S1101, the information processing apparatus 2 receives a userinstruction for printing image data after applying specific imageprocessing. For example, when the user instruction is input by the userwhile the image data is displayed through the user I/F 206 by theapplication 202, the printing controller 205 (FIG. 3) may be executed.The printing controller 205 may display the user via the user I/F 206 ascreen for setting various information regarding image processing andimage forming of the image data, which may be generated by the UImanager 255 (FIG. 4) based on the image processing function informationor the printer information described above referring to FIGS. 4 and 5.

At S1102, when the information regarding image processing and imageforming of the image data is set by the user and an instruction forprinting the image data after applying image processing is confirmed bythe user, the printing controller 205 may generate an image processingrequest for applying specific image processing and an image formingrequest for forming an image, which may be collectively referred to as auser request. The user request includes information regarding imageprocessing and image forming of the image data. For example, asillustrated in FIG. 12, the user request includes header information(“HEADER”), image data information regarding the image data to beprocessed (“IMAGE DATA”), image processing information indicatingspecific image processing to be applied to the image data (“IMAGEPROCESSING”), printer information regarding the specific image formingapparatus to form an image of the processed image data (“PRINTER”), orencryption key information to be used for secured communication (“KEY”).

At S1103, the main controller 201 of the information processingapparatus 2 sends the user request to the session management server 3through the network I/F 204.

When the session manager 302 of the session management server 3 receivesthe user request from the information processing apparatus 2 through thenetwork I/F 303, at S1104, the service manager 306 of the sessionmanagement server 3 (FIG. 6) analyzes the user request to generate adetermination result indicating how the image processing system of FIG.1 should process the user request. For example, the service manager 306may obtain the image data information and the printer informationrespectively from the user request, and determine whether the image databeing selected has a data format interpretable by the image formingapparatus 1 specified by the printer information. In this example, whenthe image processor 114 of the image forming apparatus 1 is capable ofinterpreting the data format of the image data and generating print datato be processed by the printer engine 106, it is assumed that the imagedata is interpretable by the image forming apparatus 1. In this example,the service manager 306 may determine whether the data format isinterpretable by the image forming apparatus 1 by referring to the dataformat information stored in the device information DB 304 (FIG. 7).

Additionally, the service manager 306 may obtain the image processinginformation and the printer information respectively from the userrequest, and determine whether the image processing specified by theimage processing information can be applied by the image formingapparatus 1 specified by the printer information. In this example, whenthe image processor 114 of the image forming apparatus 1 has the imageprocessing function that corresponds to the image processing specifiedby the image processing information, it is assumed that the imageprocessing can be applied by the image forming apparatus 1. For example,when the image processing information indicates the thumbnail printingfunction described above referring to FIG. 5 is to be applied, theservice manager 306 of the session management server 3 determineswhether the image forming apparatus 1 has the thumbnail printingfunction. In this example, the service manager 306 may determine whetherthe image processing can be applied by the image forming apparatus 1, byreferring to the image processing function information stored in thedevice information DB 304 (FIG. 7).

In this example, it is assumed that the determination result generatedby the service manager 306 indicates that the data format isinterpretable by the image forming apparatus 1 and the image processingcan be applied by the image forming apparatus 1.

At S1105, the session manager 302 sends an instruction generated basedon the determination result obtained at S1104 to the informationprocessing apparatus 2. The instruction may indicate that the userrequest can be processed by the image forming apparatus 1.

At S1106, the session manager 302 sends a session start instruction tothe image forming apparatus 1 through the network I/F 303, whichinstructs the image forming apparatus 1 to start a session with theinformation processing apparatus 2. The session start instruction mayinclude address information of the information processing apparatus 2and encryption key information obtained from the information processingapparatus 2, which are respectively stored in the device information DB304.

Further, in this example, when the session start instruction is receivedfrom the session management server 3, the image forming apparatus 1opens an input/output port for data channel, which is kept closed.

At S1107, the image forming apparatus 1 sends a session start request tothe information processing apparatus 2 through the network I/F 108,which requests the information processing apparatus 2 to start a sessionwith the image forming apparatus 1. In this example, the image formingapparatus 1 may communicate with the information processing apparatus 1using the encryption key information. Further, the session start requestmay include address information of the image forming apparatus 1 andauthentication information of the image forming apparatus 1.

When the information processing apparatus 2 receives the session startrequest, at S1108, the information processing apparatus 2 sends asession start response to the image forming apparatus 1 to establish asession with the image forming apparatus 1. In this example, theinformation processing apparatus 2 may communicate with the imageforming apparatus 1 using the encryption key information.

When the session is established between the information processingapparatus 2 and the image forming apparatus 1 at S1108, at S1109, theprinting controller 205 of the information processing apparatus 2 sendsthe image data to be processed, and the image processing informationthat may be generated at S1102, to the image forming apparatus 1 throughthe network I/F 204.

When the image forming apparatus 1 receives the image data and the imageprocessing information, at S1110, the image processor 114 of the imageforming apparatus 1 applies image processing specified by the imageprocessing information to generate processed image data. The enginecontroller 112 may cause the printer engine 106 to form an image of theprocessed image data, and the operation ends.

In this example, before establishing the session at S1108, for example,at S1103, S1105, S1106, S1107, and S1108, communication between at leasttwo of the information processing apparatus 2, the session managementserver 3, and the image forming apparatus 1 may be performed through asignaling channel, for example, using the signaling protocol such as theSIP. After establishing the session at S1108, for example, at S1109,communication between the information processing apparatus 2 and theimage forming apparatus 1 may be performed through a data channel, forexample, using the HTTP. Further, in this example, any desired type ofsecured communication may be implemented.

The operation of FIG. 11 may be performed in various other ways. Forexample, at S1103, the information processing apparatus 2 may send theimage data to be processed together with the user request to the sessionmanagement server 3. In such case, the user request does not have to beprovided with the image data information since the session managementserver 3 is capable of determining whether the data format of the imagedata is interpretable by the image forming apparatus 1, by analyzing theimage data file.

In another example, instead of causing the information processingapparatus 2 to send the image data or the image processing informationto the image forming apparatus 1 at S1109, the session management server3 may send the image data or the image processing information to theimage forming apparatus 1. In such case, the session management server 3may send a notice to the information processing apparatus 2 that theuser request is processed by the image forming apparatus 1. Further, thesession management server 3 requests the image forming apparatus 1 tostart a session with the session management server 3.

In another example, at S1104, the session management server 3 mayadditionally determine whether the image forming apparatus 1 has enoughresource to process the image forming request. For example, when theimage forming request is received, the session management server 3 mayobtain printer supply information from the image forming apparatus 1,and analyze the printer supply information to determine whether theimage forming apparatus 1 is capable of forming an image. Alternatively,the printer supply information may be obtained from the deviceinformation DB 304 at any desired time. The printer supply informationmay include information regarding the printer supply, such as the amountof toner remained in a toner container or the remaining number ofrecording sheets provided in the document tray 105, which may beobtained by a detector provided by the document tray 105 or the printerengine 106. When the printer supply information indicates that there isnot enough resource to process the image forming request, the sessionmanagement server 3 may send a notice to the information processingapparatus 2 without sending the session start instruction to the imageforming apparatus 1. When the notice is received, the user at theinformation processing apparatus 2 may replace the toner container orplace additional recording sheets to the documents tray 105, dependingon the notice being received. When the session management server 3receives a notice from the image forming apparatus 1 that the printersupply is replenished, the session management server 3 may proceed toS1106 to send the session start instruction to the image formingapparatus 1. Instead of sending the notice to the information processingapparatus 2 in case when the shortage of the printer supply is detected,the session management server 3 may send a notice to an informationprocessing apparatus where the administrator is logged on or an imageforming processing apparatus of any other person who may be responsiblefor managing the image forming apparatus 1.

In another example, at S1101, the user may request the informationprocessing apparatus 2 to print image data, which is stored in the datastorage 203 (FIG. 3), after applying image processing. In such case, theapplication 202 does not have to be executed.

Alternatively, at S1101, the user may request the information processingapparatus 2 to print image data, which is stored at any desired locationon the network N. In such case, the printing controller 205 does nothave to be executed as long as the web browser of the application 202 isexecuted to receive various information regarding image processing orimage forming, from the other apparatus providing the web service to theinformation processing apparatus 2.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example case in which the image processingmanagement apparatus 6 of the image processing system of FIG. 1determines that the image forming apparatus 1 is not capable ofinterpreting the data format of the image data or not capable ofapplying the specific image processing to the image data. Further, inthis example, it is assumed that the image data to be processed is sentto the session management server 3 together with the user request.Further, in this example, it is assumed that one device of the serviceproviding server 5 is found to be capable of applying the dataconversion or the specific image processing.

At S1301, the information processing apparatus 1 receives a userinstruction for printing image data after applying image processing,generates a user request including an image processing request and animage forming request, and sends the user request to the sessionmanagement server 3, in a substantially similar manner as describedabove referring to S1101, S1102, and S1103 of FIG. 11. In this example,as described above, it is assumed that the image data to be processed issent together with the user request.

At S1302, the service manager 306 of the session management server 3analyzes the user request to generate a determination result indicatinghow the image processing system of FIG. 1 should process the userrequest, in a substantially similar manner as described above referringto S1104 of FIG. 11. In this example, it is assumed that thedetermination result indicates that the data format is not interpretableby the image forming apparatus 1 or the specific image processing cannotbe applied by the image forming apparatus 1.

At S1303, the session manager 302 sends the image data obtained at S1301to the service management server 4 through the network I/F 303. Togetherwith the image data, the session manager 302 sends an instructiongenerated by the service manager 306 based on the determination resultobtained at S1302. In this example, the instruction may request theservice management server 4 to perform data conversion to convert thedata format of the image data to a data format that is interpretable bythe image forming apparatus 1, when the determination result at S1302indicates that the data format is not interpretable by the image formingapparatus 1. Additionally or alternatively, the instruction may requestthe service management server 4 to apply the specific image processing,when the determination result at S1302 indicates that the specific imageprocessing cannot be applied by the image forming apparatus 1.

When the service management server 4 receives the instruction and theimage data to be processed through the network I/F 403, at S1304, theservice management server 4 may search through the service providingserver 5 to find a device that is capable of applying data conversionspecified by the instruction. For example, under control of the maincontroller 401, the service manager 402 may analyze the instruction, andsearch for a device of the service providing server 5 that is capable ofconverting the data format to the data format interpretable by the imageforming apparatus 1 by referring to the service provider information DB404. Additionally or alternatively, the service manager 402 may analyzethe instruction, and search through the service providing server 5 toobtain a device that is capable of applying the specific imageprocessing to the image data.

When the service manager 402 finds the service providing server 5capable of applying data conversion or image processing, at S1305, themain controller 401 sends the image data to be processed to the serviceproviding server 5 being searched through the network I/F 403, togetherwith the instruction for applying specific data conversion or imageprocessing.

When the image data and the instruction are received by the serviceproviding server 5 through the network I/F 503, at S1306, under controlof the main controller 501, the service provider 502 may apply dataconversion to the image data according to the instruction. Additionallyor alternatively, the service provider 502 may apply specific imageprocessing to the image data according to the instruction. As a result,the processed image data having the data format interpretable by theimage forming apparatus 1 is generated.

At S1307, the main controller 501 sends the processed image datagenerated at S1306 to the session management server 3 through thenetwork I/F 503.

When the processed image data is received by the session managementserver 3 through the network I/F 303, at S1308, the main controller 301sends the processed image data to the image forming apparatus 1 throughthe network I/F 303 together with an instruction to print the processedimage data.

At S1309, the main controller 111 of the image forming apparatus 1causes the image processor 114 to apply further image processing to theprocessed image data to generate print data. The main controller 111further causes the engine controller 112 to print the print data, andthe operation ends.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example case in which the image processingmanagement apparatus 6 of the image processing system of FIG. 1determines that the image forming apparatus 1 is not capable ofinterpreting the data format of the image data or not capable ofapplying the specific image processing to the image data. Further, inthis example, it is assumed that the user request is sent to the sessionmanagement server 3 without the image data to be processed. Further, inthis example, one device of the service providing server 5 is found tobe capable of applying the data conversion or the specific imageprocessing.

At S1501, the information processing apparatus 1 receives a userinstruction for printing image data after applying image processing,generates a user request including an image processing request and animage forming request, and sends the user request to the sessionmanagement server 3, in a substantially similar manner as describedabove referring to S1101, S1102, and S1103 of FIG. 11.

At S1502, the service manager 306 of the session management server 3analyzes the user request to generate a determination result indicatinghow the image processing system of FIG. 1 should process the userrequest, in a substantially similar manner as described above referringto S1104 of FIG. 11. In this example, it is assumed that thedetermination result indicates that the data format is not interpretableby the image forming apparatus 1 or the specific image processing cannotbe applied by the image forming apparatus 1.

At S1503, the session manager 302 sends an instruction generated basedon the determination result obtained at S1502 to the service managementserver 4 through the network I/F 303 in a substantially similar manneras described above referring to S1303 of FIG. 13, however, without theimage data to be processed.

When the service management server 4 receives the instruction throughthe network I/F 403, at S1504, the service management server 4 maysearch for the service providing server 5 capable of applying dataconversion specified by the instruction or applying specific imageprocessing specified by the instruction, in a substantially similarmanner as described above referring to S1304 of FIG. 13.

When the service manager 402 finds the service providing server 5capable of applying data conversion or image processing, at S1505, themain controller 401 of the service management server 4 sends a searchresult specifying the service providing server 5 capable of applyingdata conversion or image processing to the session management server 3through the network I/F 403. The search result may include informationregarding the service providing server 5 being found, such as addressinformation or authentication information.

When the search result is received, at S1506, the session managementserver 3 sends an instruction generated based on the determinationresult of S1502 and the search result received from the servicemanagement server 4, to the information processing apparatus 2. Forexample, the instruction may indicate that the specific image processingcannot be applied by the image forming apparatus 2 but can be applied bythe service providing server 5. The instruction may further request theinformation processing apparatus 2 to start a session with the serviceproviding server 5. The instruction may further include the addressinformation or the authentication information of the service providingserver 5, which may be obtainable from the search result.

At S1507, the session management server 3 sends a session startinstruction to the service providing server 5 being searched to requestthe service providing server 5 to start a session with the informationprocessing apparatus 2. The instruction may include address informationor authentication information of the information processing apparatus 2.

At S1508 and S1509, the information processing apparatus 2 and theservice providing server 5 establish a session. In this example, thesession may be established using the authentication information.

At S1510, the information processing apparatus 2 sends the image data tobe processed and the image processing information to the serviceproviding server 5.

When the image data and the image processing information are received,at S1511, the service providing server 5 applies the specific imageprocessing specified by the image processing information of the imageprocessing request to the image data to generate the processed imagedata.

At S1512, the service providing server 5 sends the processed image datato the session management server 3.

At S1513, the session management server 3 sends the processed image datato the image forming apparatus 1, together with an instruction to printthe processed image data.

At S1514, the image forming apparatus 1 prints the image data in asubstantially similar manner as described above referring to S1309 ofFIG. 13, and the operation ends.

The operation of FIG. 13 or 15 may be performed in various other ways.For example, the data conversion or the specific image processing may beapplied by more than one device of the service providing server 5. Inone example, the data conversion may be applied by a first device of theservice providing server 5, while the specific image processing may beapplied by a second device of the service providing server 5. In anotherexample, the specific image processing, which may be broken down into aplurality of image processing operations, may be applied by a pluralityof devices of the service providing server 5.

In such case, as illustrated in FIG. 32, the service management server 4may be additionally provided with a processing order manager 405. Theprocessing order manager 405 may determine an order of applying theplurality of image processing operations to generate a processing orderdetermination result, for example, when the image processing is appliedby a plurality of devices of the service providing server 5 eachapplying at least one of the plurality of image processing operations.The service manager 402 of the service management server 4 may generatean instruction based on the processing order determination result, andsend the instruction to one device of the service providing server 5according to the processing order determination result, to cause theservice providing server 5 to apply the plurality of image processingoperations in the order specified by the processing order determinationresult.

Referring now to FIG. 14, operation of managing the image processingsystem of FIG. 1, performed by the session management server 3, isexplained according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

At S1401, the session manger 302 receives a user request from theinformation processing apparatus 2.

At S1402, the service manager 306 analyzes the user request to obtainprinter information to identify a printer designated by the user toperform the image forming request. In this example, the image formingapparatus 1 is assumed to be designated.

At S1403, the service manager 306 obtains status information or supplyinformation of the image forming apparatus 1, for example, by referringto the device information stored in the device information DB 304 todetermine whether the image forming apparatus 1 is capable of performingimage formation to generate a determination result. When thedetermination result at S1403 indicates that the image forming apparatus1 is not capable of performing image formation (“NO” at S1403), theoperation proceeds to S1404. When the determination result at S1403indicates that the image forming apparatus 1 is capable of performingimage formation (“YES” at S1403), the operation proceeds to S1405.

At S1404, the session manager 302 sends a notice to the informationprocessing apparatus 2, which reports that the image forming apparatus 1is not capable of performing image formation, through the network I/F303. The notice may request the user to turn on the image formingapparatus 1 or replenish the printer supply of the image formingapparatus 1 based on the determination result obtained at S1403. AfterS1404, the operation returns to S1403.

At S1405, the service manager 306 analyzes the user request to obtainthe data format of the image data to be processed and image processingto be applied to the image data.

At S1406, the service manager 306 determines whether the data format ofthe image data obtained at S1405 is interpretable by the image formingapparatus 1 and whether image processing obtained at S1405 can beapplied by the image forming apparatus 1.

When it is determined that the data format is interpretable by the imageforming apparatus 1 and the image processing can be applied by the imageforming apparatus 1 (“YES” at S1406), the operation proceeds to S1407.When it is determined that the data format is not interpretable by theimage forming apparatus 1 or the image processing cannot be applied bythe image forming apparatus 1, the operation proceeds to S1409.

At S1407, the session manager 302 sends a session start instruction tothe image forming apparatus 1 through the network I/F 303 to request theimage forming apparatus 1 to start a session with the informationprocessing apparatus 2.

At S1409, the service manager 306 may generate an instruction based onthe determination result obtained at S1406. In this example, theinstruction being generated requests the service management server 4 toapply data conversion that converts the data format of the image data tobe processed to the data format interpretable by the image formingapparatus 1 when the determination result at S1406 indicates that thedata format of the image data to be processed is not interpretable bythe image forming apparatus 1. Alternatively or additionally, theinstruction being generated requests the service management server 4 toapply image processing specified by the image processing information ofthe user request when the determination result at S1406 indicates thatthe image processing cannot be applied by the image forming apparatus 1.The session manager 302 may send the instruction to the servicemanagement server 4 through the network I/F 303 together with the imagedata to be processed.

At S1410, the session manager 302 receives the image data beingprocessed by the service providing server 5, and sends the processedimage data to the image forming apparatus 1.

At S1408, the session manager 302 sends an instruction generated basedon the determination result obtained at S1406 to the informationprocessing apparatus 2 through the network I/F 303, and the operationends. In this example, when the determination result obtained at S1406indicates that the image forming apparatus 1 is capable of interpretingthe data format and applying image processing, the instruction beinggenerated may request the information processing apparatus 2 to send theimage data to be processed and the image processing information to theimage forming apparatus 1. When the determination result obtained atS1406 indicates that the image forming apparatus 1 is not capable ofinterpreting the data format or applying image processing, theinstruction being generated may notify the information processingapparatus 2 that the image data is being printed by the image formingapparatus 1 after being processed by the service providing server 5.

As described above referring to any one of FIGS. 13 to 15, theinformation processing apparatus 2 does not have to convert the dataformat of the image data to be the data format interpretable by theimage forming apparatus 1, before sending the image data to the imageforming apparatus 1. Since the information processing apparatus 2 doesnot need to perform data conversion, or the information processingapparatus 2 does not have to determine whether any data conversion isnecessary, the printing controller 205 (FIG. 3) does not have to beprovided with the function of performing data conversion. Accordingly,the printing controller 205 does not have to be upgraded or re-designedeven when the image forming apparatus 1 is replaced with another imageforming apparatus or even when the image processing system of FIG. 1 isadditionally provided with one or more image forming apparatuses.

Further, the user is capable of requesting specific image processing,even when neither one of the image forming apparatus 1 and theinformation processing apparatus 2 is capable of applying the specificimage processing. As long as at least one device that is capable ofapplying the specific image processing is provided on the network N, theuser may request the specific image processing.

Further, even when image processing that the user desires to perform isnot provided by the image processing system of FIG. 1, the system may bechanged so as to provide such image processing function, for example, byadding the service providing server 5 capable of performing therequested image processing to the network B of the service provider. Insuch case, the user does not have to add another apparatus to thenetwork A or does not have to change the settings of any apparatusprovided on the network A.

Further, as described above referring to FIG. 13 and FIG. 15, forexample, the information processing apparatus 2 does not have to sendthe image data to be processed until when it receives an instruction tosend the image data to an apparatus specified by the image processingmanagement apparatus 6, from the image processing management apparatus6. This may reduce the overall network load of the system or the overallprocessing load of the apparatus on the network N. Further, since theimage data is sent after the session is established, that is, preferablyafter the client and server apparatuses are authenticated, the imagedata may be protected from the access or attack from the unauthorizeduser.

FIG. 25 illustrates an example case in which the image processingmanagement apparatus 6 of the image processing system of FIG. 1determines that the image forming apparatus 1 is capable of interpretingthe data format of the image data but not capable of applying the imageprocessing to the image data. Further, the specific image processing mayinclude a plurality of image processing operations. Further, in thisexample, it is assumed that a plurality of devices of the serviceproviding server 5 are found to be capable of together applying theplurality of image processing operations of the specific imageprocessing. Further, as described above referring to FIG. 32, the imageprocessing management apparatus 6 is provided with the processing ordermanager 405, which determines an order of applying the plurality ofimage processing operations.

At S2501, the information processing apparatus 2 receives a userinstruction for printing image data after applying image processing,generates a user request including an image processing request and animage forming request, and sends the user request to the sessionmanagement server 3. In this example, the image data to be processed isnot sent.

At S2502, the service manager 306 of the session management server 3analyzes the user request to generate a determination result indicatinghow the image processing system of FIG. 1 should process the userrequest. In this example, it is assumed that the determination resultindicates that the data format is interpretable by the image formingapparatus 1 but the specific image processing cannot be applied by theimage forming apparatus 1.

At S2503, the session manager 302 sends an instruction generated basedon the determination result obtained at S2502 to the service managementserver 4 through the network I/F 303. The instruction may request theservice management server 4 to apply a plurality of image processingoperations of the specific image processing.

When the service management server 4 receives the instruction throughthe network I/F 403, at S2504, the service management server 4 maysearch for the service providing server 5 capable of applying specificimage processing specified by the instruction. In this example, thesearch result indicates that a plurality of devices of the serviceproviding server 5 are capable of together applying the plurality ofimage processing operations of the specific image processing.

Further, at S2504, the processing order manager 405 (FIG. 32) of theservice management server 4 determines an order of applying theplurality of image processing operations to generate a processing orderdetermination result. The service manager 402 of the service managementserver 4 generates an instruction based on the processing orderdetermination result. Specifically, in this example, the instruction mayinclude route information regarding a route of which the image data tobe processed is transferred from device to device of the serviceproviding server 5. The instruction may further include addressinformation or authentication information of each device of the serviceproviding server 5, which is found to be capable of applying at leastone of the plurality of image processing operations.

At S2505, the service management server 4 sends the instruction beinggenerated at S2504 to the session management server 3.

When the instruction is received from the service management server 4,at S2506, the session management server 3 sends an instruction to theinformation processing apparatus 2. In this example, the instruction atleast includes the route information.

At S2507, the session management server 3 sends a session startinstruction to a first device of the service providing server 5, whichrequests the first device to start a session with the informationprocessing apparatus 2. In this example, the first device is the device,which is determined by the service management server 4 to firstly applythe image processing operation.

At S2508 and S2509, the information processing apparatus 2 and the firstdevice of the service providing server 5 establish a session. In thisexample, the session may be established using the authenticationinformation.

At S2510, the information processing apparatus 2 sends the image data tobe processed and an instruction including the image processinginformation, to the first device of the service providing server 5. Theinstruction further includes the route information regarding the routeof which the image data to be processed is transferred from device todevice of the service providing server 5.

When the image data and the instruction are received, at S2511, thefirst device of the service providing server 5 applies the specificimage processing specified by the instruction to the image data togenerate the processed image data.

At S2511, after applying image processing, the first device of theservice providing server 5 may refer to the route information to obtaininformation regarding a second device of the service providing server 5that is determined to secondly apply the image processing operation. Thefirst device of the service providing server 5 sends the processed imagedata and the instruction including the image processing information andthe route information, to the second device of the service providingserver 5. In this example, the first device of the service providingserver 5 and the second device of the service providing server 5establish a session under control of the session management server 3.

When the image data and the instruction are received, at S2512, thesecond device of the service providing server 5 applies the imageprocessing according to the instruction. After applying imageprocessing, the second device of the service providing server 5 mayrefer to the route information to obtain information regarding a thirddevice of the service providing server 5 that is determined tosubsequently apply the image processing operation, if any. When there isthe third device to apply further image processing, the second device ofthe service providing server 5 sends the image data and the instructionto the third device of the service providing server 5. This processdescribed above referring to S2511 or S2512 may be repeated until allimage processing operations are processed by all devices being found.

When all image processing operations are processed, at S2513, the deviceof the service providing server 5 sends the processed image data to theimage forming apparatus 1. In this example, the device of the serviceproviding server 5 and the image forming apparatus 1 may establish asession under control of the session management server 3. Afterestablishing the session, the image data is transferred from the serviceproviding server 5 to the image forming apparatus 1 through a datachannel.

When the processed image data is received, at S2514, the image formingapparatus 1 prints the processed image data, and the operation ends.

Referring now to FIG. 26, operation of managing image processingperformed by the service management server 3 based on the routeinformation, is explained according to an example embodiment of thepresent invention. For the descriptive purpose, in this example, it isassumed that the first device 5 a of the service providing server 5(“service providing server 5 a”) and the second device 5 b of theservice providing server 5 (“service providing server 5 b”) are assumedto apply the image processing to generate the processed image data.Further, in this example, the route information indicates that the imagedata should be transferred in the order of the first device 5 a and thesecond device 5 b. The operation of FIG. 26 may correspond to S2510 toS2513 of FIG. 25.

At 2601, the first device 5 a of the service providing server 5 receivesthe image data and the instruction, which are sent from the informationprocessing apparatus 1 at S2510 of FIG. 25. The instruction includes theimage processing information and the route information.

At S2602, the first device 5 a of the service providing server 5 appliesimage processing to the image data according to the image processinginformation of the instruction.

At S2603, the first device 5 a of the service providing server 5 refersto the route information, and sends a session start request to thesession management server 3, which requests starting of a session withthe second device 5 a of the service providing server 5 to which theprocessed image data and the instruction should be sent.

When the session start request is received, at S2604, the sessionmanagement server 3 sends a session start instruction to the seconddevice 5 b of the service providing server 5, which requests starting ofa session with the first device 5 a.

At S2605 and S2606, the first device 5 a and the second device 5 b ofthe service providing server 5 establish a session.

When the session is established, at S2607, the first device 5 a of theservice providing server 5 sends the processed image data and theinstruction to the second device 5 b of the service providing server 5.

When the image data and the instruction are received, at S2608, thesecond device 5 b of the service providing server 5 applies the imageprocessing to the image data according to the image processinginformation of the instruction.

At S2609, the second device 5 b of the service providing server 5 refersto the route information, and sends a session start request to thesession management server 3, which requests starting of a session withthe image forming apparatus 1.

When the session start request is received, at S2610, the sessionmanagement server 3 sends a session start instruction to the imageforming apparatus 1.

At S2611, the second device 5 b of the service providing server 5establishes a session with the image forming apparatus 1.

When the session is established, at S2612, the second device 5 b of theservice providing server 5 sends the processed image data to the imageforming apparatus 1.

The operation of FIG. 26 may be performed in various other ways. Forexample, after completing image processing, for example, at S2603 orS2609, the service providing server 5 may send a notice to the sessionmanagement server 3, which reports completion of the image processing.When the notice is received, the session management server 3 may referto the route information, and send an instruction to the device that isdetermined to subsequently apply image processing to cause the device toapply image processing.

Referring to FIG. 27, operation of managing image processing performedby the service management server 3 based on the route information, isexplained according to an example embodiment of the present invention.For the descriptive purpose, in this example, it is assumed that thefirst device 5 a of the service providing server 5 and the second device5 b of the service providing server 5 are assumed to apply the imageprocessing to generate the processed image data. Further, in thisexample, the route information indicates that the image data should betransferred in the order of the first device 5 a and the second device 5b. The operation of FIG. 27 may correspond to S2506 to S2514 of FIG. 25.

At S2701, the session management server 3 receives the route informationfrom the service management server 4.

At S2702, the session management server 3 generates an instruction basedon the route information, and sends the instruction to the first device5 a of the service providing server 5. In this example, the instructionrequests the first device 5 a of the service providing server 5 toobtain the image data to be processed and the image processinginformation from the information processing apparatus 2. Specifically,in this example, the instruction includes information regarding thelocation where the image data and the image processing information arestored, which may be expressed as URL.

When the instruction is received from the session service manager 3, atS2703, the first device 5 a of the service providing server 5 obtainsthe image data and the image processing information from the informationprocessing apparatus 2 based on the instruction.

When the image data and the image processing information are obtained,at S2704, the first device 5 a of the service providing server 5 appliesthe image processing specified by the image processing information tothe image data.

At S2705, the first device 5 a of the service providing server 5 sends anotice to the session management server 3 that image processing iscompleted.

When the notice is received from the first device 5 a of the serviceproviding server 5, at S2706, the session management server 3 refers tothe route information, and sends an instruction to the second device 5 bof the service providing server 5. In this example, the instruction mayrequest the second device 5 b of the service providing server 5 toobtain the image data to be processed and the image processinginformation from the first device 5 a of the service providing server 5.Specifically, in this example, the instruction includes informationregarding the location where the image data and the image processinginformation are stored, which may be expressed as URL.

When the instruction is received, at S2707, the second device 5 b of theservice providing server 5 sends a request to the first device 5 a ofthe service providing server 5 for the image data and the imageprocessing information.

When the request is received, at S2708, the first device 5 a of theservice providing server 5 sends the image data and the image processinginformation.

When the image data and the image processing information are obtained,at S2709, the second device 5 b of the service providing server 5applies the image processing to the image data according to the imageprocessing information.

At S2710, the second device 5 b of the service providing server 5 sendsa notice to the session management server 3 that the image processing iscompleted.

At S2711, the session management server 3 refers to the routeinformation, and sends an instruction to the image forming apparatus 1that is designated to output the processed image data. The instructionmay request the image forming apparatus 1 to obtain the processed imagedata from the second device 5 b of the service providing server 5. Theinstruction may include information regarding the location where theprocessed image data is stored.

At S2712, the image forming apparatus 1 sends a request to the seconddevice 5 b of the service providing server 5, which requests for theprocessed image data.

At S2713, the second device 5 b of the service providing server 5 sendsthe processed image data to the image forming apparatus 1.

At S2714, the image forming apparatus 1 prints the processed image data,and the operation ends.

In this example described above referring to FIG. 27, any informationsuch as the image data may be transferred while being encrypted. Forexample, at S2704, the first device 5 a of the service providing server5 may encrypt the processed image data with the encrypted key. Whensending the notice at S2705, the first device 5 a of the serviceproviding server 5 may send the encrypted key information. Further, atS2706, the session management server 3 sends the encrypted keyinformation being obtained from the first device 5 a of the serviceproviding server 5, to the second device 5 b of the service providingserver 5. At S2707 and 2708, the second device 5 b of the serviceproviding server 5 obtains the image data using the encrypted keyinformation being obtained from the session managements server 3. Forimproved security, S2703, S2712, or S2713 may be performed in asubstantially similar manner using the encrypted key information.

As described above referring to FIG. 1, the image processing managementapparatus 6 may be implemented in various other ways. Referring now toFIGS. 16 and 17, an example case in which the image processingmanagement apparatus 6 is implemented by the session management server 3shown in FIG. 6 is explained. However, in this example, it is assumedthat the device information DB 304 (FIG. 6) additionally stores deviceinformation regarding the service providing server 5, such as the deviceinformation illustrated in FIG. 9.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example case in which the image processingmanagement apparatus 6 determines that the image forming apparatus 1 isnot capable of interpreting the data format of the image data and notcapable of applying the image processing to the image data. Further, inthis example, it is assumed that a first device 5 a (the “serviceproviding server 5 a”) and a second device 5 b (the “service providingserver 5 b”) of the service providing server 5 are found to be capableof respectively applying the data conversion and the specific imageprocessing.

At S1601, the information processing apparatus 2 receives a userinstruction for printing image data after applying image processing,generates a user request including an image processing request and animage forming request, and sends the user request to the sessionmanagement server 3, in a substantially similar manner as describedabove referring to S1101, S1102, and S1103 of FIG. 11. In this example,it is assumed that the image data to be processed is sent together withthe user request.

At S1602, the service manager 306 of the session management server 3analyzes the user request to generate a determination result indicatinghow the image processing system of FIG. 1 should process the userrequest, in a substantially similar manner as described above referringto S1104 of FIG. 11. In this example, it is assumed that thedetermination result indicates that the data format is not interpretableby the image forming apparatus 1 and the specific image processingcannot be applied by the image forming apparatus 1.

At S1603, the service manager 306 searches through the service providingserver 5 to find a device that is capable of applying data conversionand a device that is capable of applying image processing, in asubstantially similar manner as described above referring to S1304 ofFIG. 13. In this example, the search result indicates that the firstdevice 5 a of the service providing server 5 is capable of applying dataconversion, and the second device 5 b of the service providing server 5is capable of applying image processing. Based on the search result, theservice manager 306 may generate an instruction, which requests theservice providing server 5 to apply the data conversion and the imageprocessing. The instruction may include information regarding the devicebeing found, such as the first device 5 a and the second device 5 b ofthe service providing server 5. The instruction may additionally includeroute information regarding the order in which the image data and theinstruction are transferred from device to device. The route informationmay be previously determined by default. Alternatively, the routeinformation may be determined based on the status information of theservice providing server 5, which may be obtainable from the deviceinformation when searching through the service providing server 5.

Further, at S1603, the service manager 306 sends the image data to beprocessed to the first device 5 a of the service providing server 5,together with the instruction being generated based on the searchresult. In this example, the service manager 306 may arbitrarilydetermine a device to which the image data and the instruction are sent.Alternatively, the device to which the image data and the instructionare sent may be previously set based on the route information.

At S1604, the first device 5 a of the service providing server 5 appliesthe data conversion to the image data according to the instruction.

At S1605, the first device 5 a of the service providing server 5 sendsthe processed image data and the instruction to the second device 5 a ofthe service providing server 5. The instruction may be updated by thefirst device 5 a of the service providing server 5 so as to indicatethat the data conversion is completed or the image data is processed bythe first device 5 a of the service providing server 5.

At S1606, the second device 5 b of the service providing server 5applies the image processing to the processed image data being receivedfrom the first device 5 a of the service providing server 5 according tothe instruction.

At S1607, the second device 5 b of the service providing server 5 sendsthe processed image data to the session management server 3. In order todetermine whether to send the processed image data to the sessionmanagement server 3, the second device 5 b of the service providingserver 5 may determine whether the data conversion and the imageprocessing, which are specified by the instruction, are completed byreferring to the contents of the instruction that may be updated as itis transferred from device to device of the service providing server 5.

At S1608, the session management server 3 sends the processed image datato the image forming apparatus 1.

At S1609, the image forming apparatus 1 prints the image data, and theoperation ends.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example case in which the image processingmanagement apparatus 6 determines that the image forming apparatus 1 isnot capable of interpreting the data format of the image data and notcapable of applying the image processing to the image data. Further, inthis example, it is assumed that the second device 5 b (the “serviceproviding server 5 b”) of the service providing server 5 is found to becapable of respectively applying the data conversion and the specificimage processing.

S1701 to S1703 are performed in a substantially similar manner asdescribed above referring to S1601 to S1603. However, in this example,the instruction being generated at S1703 is provided with the dataformat information and the image processing information, but notprovided with information regarding the search result or informationgenerated based on the search result. Further, in this example, it isassumed that the image data and the instruction are sent from device todevice of the service providing server 5 until all image processingoperations are performed on the image data. The route of which the imagedata and instruction are transferred may be set by default or determinedbased on the status information of each device of the service providingserver 5.

When the image data and the instruction are received, at S1704, thefirst device 5 a of the service providing server 5 determines whether itis necessary to apply data conversion or image processing to the imagedata, for example, by comparing the image processing function that thefirst device 5 a of the service providing server 5 can offer with theimage processing specified by the instruction. In this example, it isassumed that there is no data conversion or image processing that thefirst device 5 a of the service providing server 5 can provide.

In such case, at S1705, the first device 5 a of the service providingserver 5 sends the image data, without processing, to the second device5 b of the service providing server 5 together with the instruction. Theinstruction may be updated so as to indicate that the image data and theinstruction are sent to the first device 5 a of the service providingserver 5 or no image processing is applied to the image data.

When the image data and the instruction are received, at S1706, thesecond device 5 b of the service providing server 5 determines whetherit is necessary to apply data conversion or image processing to theimage data, for example, by comparing the image processing function thatthe second device 5 b of the service providing server 5 can offer withthe image processing specified by the instruction. In this example, itis assumed that the data conversion and the image processing specifiedby the instruction can be applied by the second device 5 b of theservice providing server 5.

At S1707, the second device 5 b of the service providing server 5applies the data conversion and the image processing to the image databeing received from the first device 5 a of the service providing server5 to generate the processed image data.

At S1708, the second device 5 b of the service providing server 5 sendsthe processed image data to the session management server 3. In order todetermine whether to send the processed image data to the sessionmanagement server 3, the second device 5 b of the service providingserver 5 may determine whether the data conversion and the imageprocessing, which are specified by the instruction, are completed byreferring to the contents of the instruction that may be updated as itis transferred from device to device of the service providing server 5.

At S1709, the session management server 3 sends the processed image datato the image forming apparatus 1.

At S1710, the image forming apparatus 1 prints the image data, and theoperation ends.

The image processing operation described above referring to FIGS. 11 to17, 25, 26, and 27 may be performed in various other ways.

For example, rather than determining whether the image forming apparatus1 is capable of applying data conversion or image processing, thesession management server 3 may pass the user request, which may beprovided with the image data, to the service management server 4. Insuch case, the service manager 306 does not have to be provided.

In another example, the image forming request does not have to beprovided with the printer information, for example, when the userinstruction does not specify the image forming apparatus. In such case,when the user request is received from the information processingapparatus 2, the session management server 3 may select the imageforming apparatus by default or based on the other information of theuser request. For example, the session management server 3 may obtainthe data format information from the user request, or obtain the dataformat information from the image data file. Based on the data format,the session management server 3 may select one of the image formingapparatuses, for example, by referring to the device information DB 304.

In such case, when a plurality of image forming apparatuses areavailable, the session management server 3 may request the user at theinformation processing apparatus 2 to select one of the plurality ofimage forming apparatuses. For example, at least one of the sessionmanagement server 3, the service management server 4, and the serviceproviding server 5 may send the processed image data to which the imageprocessing is applied to the information processing apparatus 2. Theinformation processing apparatus 2 may send the selected one of theimage forming apparatuses to complete image formation.

Alternatively, at least one of the session management server 3, theservice management server 4, and the service providing server 5 mayprovide the information processing apparatus 2 with data locationinformation regarding the location where the processed image data isstored. When the data location information is received, the informationprocessing apparatus 2 may obtain the processed image data using thedata location information. Alternatively, the information processingapparatus 2 may request the image forming apparatus 1 to obtain theprocessed image data, by sending the data location information.Alternatively, once the data location information is obtained, theinformation processing apparatus 2 may cause the user I/F 204 to displaythe data location information to the user. The user may directly operatethe image forming apparatus 1 through the operation panel 104 to causethe image forming apparatus 1 to print the processed image data. Sincethe operation of image forming is started only when instructed by theuser, the user may instruct the image forming apparatus 1 to process aplurality of printing jobs at once such that the user is only requiredto go to the image forming apparatus 1 for once. This may furtherprevent the printed document to be left on the output tray 107 as theuser is most likely to pick up the printed document after the userinstructs for image forming, thus protecting the printed document frombeing lost or stolen.

Referring now to FIG. 18, a configuration of an image processing systemis explained according to an example embodiment of the presentinvention. The image processing system of FIG. 18 is substantiallysimilar to the image processing system of FIG. 1. The differencesinclude the addition of a network D provided with an image formingapparatus 1 b. The network D may be a local area network. Specifically,in this example, it is assumed that the user using the informationprocessing apparatus 2 moves to another location away from the locationwhere the network A is provided. In such case, the informationprocessing apparatus 2, which is usually connected to the network A, maybe connected to the network D.

Even when the information processing apparatus 2 connects to the networkC through the network D, operation of image processing or image formingmay be performed in a substantially similar manner as described abovereferring to FIGS. 11 to 17, and 25 to 27. However, in the example caseillustrated in FIG. 18, the user request generated by the informationprocessing apparatus 2 may specify the image forming apparatus 1 b asthe image forming apparatus 1 to print the image data.

In such case, when the user connects to the network D through theinformation processing apparatus 2, the registrar 305 of the imageprocessing management apparatus 6 may obtain device information from theimage forming apparatus 1 b, and store the device information in thedevice information DB 304 in a substantially similar manner as describedabove referring to FIG. 6. Specifically, in this example, as illustratedin FIG. 19, the device information DB 304 shown in FIG. 7 may be updatedto have device information of the image forming apparatus 1 b. Once thedevice information stored in the device information DB 304 is updated,the printer information that is stored in the printer informationmanager 253 of the printing controller 205 of the information processingapparatus 2 may be updated, for example, by downloading the deviceinformation regarding the image forming apparatus 1 b. Based on theupdated printer information, the UI manager 255 may update the screen tonotify the user that the image forming apparatus 1 b is available foruse.

Alternatively, the printing controller 205 of the information processingapparatus 2 may obtain device information regarding the image formingapparatus 1 b by sending a request, which requests the image processingmanagement apparatus 6 to send device information regarding an imageforming apparatus connected to a local area network to which theinformation processing apparatus 2 is currently connected. Such requestmay be sent using the SOAP. In response, the image processing managementapparatus 6 may search for one or more image forming apparatusesconnected to the network D by referring to the address information, suchas the subnet section of the IP address, of the image forming apparatus1.

In this manner, even when the user requests to print image data usingthe image forming apparatus 1 b, which is not previously registered inthe system, the information processing apparatus 2 is capable ofgenerating an image processing request or an image forming requestwithout installing a printer driver specific to the image formingapparatus 1 b.

Further, in this example, even when the user is logged onto the systemthrough an information processing apparatus other than the informationprocessing apparatus 2, the user is able to use a service provided bythe information processing apparatus 2.

In another example, the user may request through the informationprocessing apparatus 2 connected to the network D to print image datausing the image forming apparatus 1 a connected to the network A. Inanother example, the user may request through the information processingapparatus 2 connected to the network A to print image data using theimage forming apparatus 1 b connected to the network D. From the user'sperspective, the information processing apparatus 2 may function as afacsimile capable of sending the image data to any one of the imageforming apparatuses 1 provided on the network N.

Referring now to FIG. 20, a configuration of an image processing systemis explained according to an example embodiment of the presentinvention. The image processing system of FIG. 20 is substantiallysimilar to the image processing system of FIG. 1. The differencesinclude the addition of a plurality of image forming apparatuses 1 c and1 d, which are each connected to the network A. Specifically, in thisexample, the user at the information processing apparatus 2 may selectone of the image forming apparatuses 1 a, 1 c, and 1 d as an imageforming apparatus 1 to perform image forming.

Even when the plurality of image forming apparatuses 1 are provided,operation of image processing or image forming may be performed in asubstantially similar manner as described above referring to FIGS. 11 to17, and 25 to 27. However, in the example case illustrated in FIG. 20,the user request generated by the information processing apparatus 2 mayspecify the selected one of the image forming apparatus 1 a, 1 c, and 1d as the image forming apparatus 1 to print the image data.

In such case, when the image forming apparatus 1 c or 1 d, which may becollectively referred to as the image forming apparatus 1, connects tothe network A, the registrar 305 of the image processing managementapparatus 6 may obtain device information from the image formingapparatus 1 in a substantially similar manner as described abovereferring to FIG. 6. Specifically, in this example, as illustrated inFIG. 21, the device information DB 304 shown in FIG. 7 may be updated tohave device information of the image forming apparatuses 1 c and 1 d.Once the device information stored in the device information DB 304 isupdated, the printer information that is stored in the printerinformation manager 253 of the printing controller 205 of theinformation processing apparatus 2 may be updated, for example, bydownloading the device information regarding the image formingapparatuses 1 c and 1 d. Based on the updated printer information, theUI manager 255 may update the screen to notify the user that the imageforming apparatuses 1 c and 1 d are available for use.

Alternatively, the printing controller 205 of the information processingapparatus 2 may obtain device information regarding the image formingapparatuses 1 c and 1 d by sending a request, which requests the imageprocessing management apparatus 6 to send device information regardingan image forming apparatus connected to the network A. Such request maybe sent using the SOAP. In response, the image processing managementapparatus 6 may search for one or more image forming apparatusesconnected to the network A by referring to the address information, suchas the subnet section of the IP address, of the image forming apparatus1.

In this manner, even when one or more image forming apparatuses areintroduced to the network N, the information processing apparatus 2 iscapable of generating an image processing request or an image formingrequest without installing a printer driver specific to the new imageforming apparatus.

Referring now to FIGS. 21 to 24, image operation, image formingoperation, and post processing operation, performed by the imageprocessing system of FIG. 20, are explained according to an exampleembodiment of the present invention. In this example, the informationprocessing apparatus 2 generates a user request according to a userinstruction received through the user I/F 206. Specifically, in thisexample, it is assumed that the user request includes an imageprocessing request that requests for specific image processing to beapplied to image data to generate processed image data, an image formingrequest that instructs the image processing management apparatus 6 tooutput an image of the processed image data, and a post processingrequest that instructs the image processing management apparatus 6 toapply post processing to the recording sheet having the printed imagethereon. In this example, the post processing request may include postprocessing information regarding post processing to be applied, such asstapling, punching, book-binding, folding, sorting, etc.

The structure of each apparatus provided on the image processing systemof FIG. 20 is substantially similar to the structure of correspondingapparatus provided on the image processing system of FIG. 1. However, inthis example, the device information DB 304 of the session managementserver 3 may additionally store post processing function informationregarding a post processing function provided by the image formingapparatus 1 for each one of the image forming apparatuses 1 a, 1 c, and1 d.

Further, in this example, the printing controller 205 of the informationprocessing apparatus 2 may be additionally provided with a postprocessing information manager 254 as illustrated in FIG. 22. The postprocessing information manager 254 manages post processing functioninformation, which indicates various post processing functions providedby the image processing system of FIG. 20. For example, as illustratedin FIG. 23, the post processing function information may include aplurality of post processing functions including stapling, book-binding,folding, punching, etc. The post processing function information may bedownloaded from the image processing management apparatus 6 in asubstantially similar manner as described above referring to the examplecase in which the image processing function information is obtained.

In operation, when the user request is received from the informationprocessing apparatus 2, the image processing management apparatus 6analyzes the user request to determine how image processing, imageforming, and post processing should be performed by the image processingsystem of FIG. 20. Specifically, in this example, the image processingmanagement apparatus 6 determines whether the data format of the imagedata is interpretable by any one of the image forming apparatus 1 togenerate a determination result. Further, the image processingmanagement apparatus 6 determines whether the specific image processingcan be applied by any one of the image forming apparatus 1 to generate adetermination result. Further, the image processing management apparatus6 determines whether the specific post processing can be applied by anyone of the image forming apparatus 1 to generate a determination result.Based on the determination result, the image processing managementapparatus 6 may generate an instruction, which specifies how a pluralityof apparatuses on the network N including the image forming apparatus 1and the information processing apparatus 2 should operate to process theuser request.

Referring now to FIG. 24, operation of determining whether the specificpost processing can be applied by the image forming apparatus 1 a,performed by the image processing management apparatus 6, is explainedaccording to an example embodiment of the present invention. Theoperation of FIG. 24 may be performed after S1403 of FIG. 14 when thedetermination result at S1403 indicates that the image forming apparatus1 a is capable of performing image formation (“YES” at S1403), butbefore the operation proceeds to S1405 of obtaining informationregarding the data format and the specific image processing. For thedescriptive purpose, in this example, the user request specifies theimage forming apparatus 1 a as the printer to process the image formingrequest and the post processing request.

Referring to FIG. 24, at S2401, the session management server 3determines that the image forming apparatus 1 a is capable of performingimage formation based on the determination result obtained at S1403 ofFIG. 14.

At S2402, the service manager 306 analyzes the user request to determinewhether the post processing information indicates that any postprocessing is requested by the user. When the post processinginformation indicates that no post processing is requested (“NO” atS2402), the operation proceeds to S2406 to end the operation of FIG. 24,and further proceeds to S1405 of FIG. 14. When the post processinginformation indicates that any post processing is requested (“YES” atS2402), the operation proceeds to S2403.

At S2403, the service manager 306 refers to the device information DB304 to determine whether the image forming apparatus 1 a specified bythe printer information of the user request is capable of applying postprocessing specified by the post processing information of the userrequest. When the image forming apparatus 1 a is not capable of applyingthe specific post processing (“NO” at S2403), the operation proceeds toS2404. When the image forming apparatus 1 a is capable of applying thespecific post processing (“YES” at S2403), the operation proceeds toS2406.

At S2404, the service manager 306 refers to the device information DB304 to search for the image forming apparatus 1 capable of applying thespecific post processing to generate a search result. Based on thesearch result, the service manager 306 may automatically change theprinter processing the request from the image forming apparatus 1 a tothe searched one of the image forming apparatuses 1 c and 1 d.

At S2405, the session manager 302 sends a notice to the informationprocessing apparatus 2, which notifies that the printer processing therequest is changed from the image forming apparatus 1 a to the searchedone of the image forming apparatuses 1 c and 1 d, and the operationfurther proceeds to S2406.

As described above referring to FIG. 24, the user is capable ofrequesting specific post processing, even when the image formingapparatus 1 a is not capable of applying such specific post processing.As long as at least one device that is capable of applying the specificpost processing is provided on the network N, the user may request thespecific post processing. Further, in such case, the user does not haveto search for the image forming apparatus that is capable of applyingthe specific post processing.

Further, even when there is no image forming apparatus capable ofapplying post processing specified by the user, the system may bechanged so as to provide such post processing function, for example, byadding the image forming apparatus capable of performing the requestedpost processing or a post processing device capable of performing therequested post processing to the network A where the user is located. Insuch case, the user does not have to change the settings of anyapparatus provided on the network A.

The operation of FIG. 24 may be performed in various other ways. Forexample, when searching for the image forming apparatus 1 capable ofapplying specific post processing at S2404, the image processingmanagement apparatus 6 may only search for the image forming apparatus1, which is assumed to be located near the user, by comparing theaddress information of the information processing apparatus 2 that theuser is currently logged on and the address information of the imageforming apparatus 1 c or 1 d. Alternatively, the address information ofthe image forming apparatus 1 a may be compared with the addressinformation of the image forming apparatus 1 c or 1 d.

In another example, when the search result at S2404 indicates that morethan one image forming apparatus 1 can apply specific post processing,the image processing management apparatus 6 may send the search resultto the information processing apparatus 2 to request the user to selectone of the image forming apparatuses 1. Alternatively, the imageprocessing management apparatus 6 may select one of the image formingapparatus 1 based on the device information, such as the addressinformation or the status information. Alternatively, the postprocessing manager 254 (FIG. 22) of the printing controller 205 of theinformation processing apparatus 2 may only download device informationregarding the image forming apparatus 1 that is assumed to be locatednear the information processing apparatus 2. This may prevent the userto accidentally select the image forming apparatus 1 that is not locatednear the location of the user, while reducing the processing load of theimage processing management apparatus 6.

In another example, when the search result at S2404 indicates that thereis no image forming apparatus 1 capable of applying specific postprocessing, the image processing management apparatus 6 may send thesearch result to the information processing apparatus 2, preferablytogether with a message that requests the user to select whether toprint without applying post processing or cancel the currently performedjob. Based on the user selection, the image processing managementapparatus 6 may instruct the apparatus on the network N to process theuser request without applying post processing or to cancel the userrequest.

In another example, the post processing function information may bemanaged together with the image processing function information,preferably by the image processing information manager 251 (FIG. 4).

In another example, the post processing function information and theimage processing function information may be classified differently. Forexample, the image forming apparatus 1 is provided with thehardware-related function, which is mainly performed by the hardwaredevice. The hardware-related function includes, for example,double-sided printing, in addition to the post processing describedabove referring to FIG. 23. Further, sorting may be performed mainly bythe software device of the image forming apparatus 1 such that sortingmay be classified as the image processing function.

Referring now to FIG. 28, image scanning operation, image processingoperation, and image transferring operation, performed by the imageprocessing system of FIG. 1, are explained according to an exampleembodiment of the present invention. In this example, the image formingapparatus 1 generates a user request according to a user instructionreceived through the operation panel 104. Specifically, in this example,it is assumed that the user request includes an image scanning requestthat request for scanning an original document into image data, an imageprocessing request that requests for specific image processing to beapplied to the image data being obtained by scanning, and an imagetransfer request that instructs the image processing managementapparatus 6 to transfer the processed image data to the informationprocessing apparatus 2.

When the user request is received from the image forming apparatus 1,the image processing management apparatus 6 analyzes the user request todetermine how image scanning, image processing and image transferringshould be performed by the image processing system of FIG. 1.

At S2801, the image forming apparatus 1 receives a user instruction forscanning an original document into image data, applying opticalcharacter recognition (OCR) processing to the image data to generatetext data, and sending the text data to the information processingapparatus 2.

At S2802, the image forming apparatus 1 scans the original document,which may be provided to the ADF 101 or the scanner 102, into the imagedata.

At S2803, the image forming apparatus 1 generates a user request basedon the user instruction. The user request includes an image processingrequest for applying specific image processing, which is OCR processing,to the image data, and an image transferring request for sending thetext data the information processing apparatus 2. The image formingapparatus 1 further sends the user request to the session managementserver 3.

When the user request is received, at S2804, the session managementserver 3 sends an instruction to the service management server 4. Theinstruction may request the service management server 4 to apply OCRprocessing.

When the instruction and the image data are received, at S2805, theservice management server 4 searches through the service providingserver 5 to find a device that is capable of applying OCR processing.

At S2806, the service management server 4 sends the search resultobtained at S2805 to the session management server 3. The search resultmay include address information or authentication information of thedevice of the service providing server 5 that is capable of applying OCRprocessing.

When the search result is received, at S2807, the session managementserver 3 sends an instruction including the search result to the imageforming apparatus 1.

At S2808, the session management server 3 sends a session startinstruction to the device of the service providing server 5 being foundto request starting of a session.

At S2809 and S2810, the service providing server 5 and the image formingapparatus 1 establish a session.

When the session is established, at S2811, the image forming apparatus 1sends the image data and the image processing information to the serviceproviding server 5.

At S2812, the service providing server 5 applies OSR processing to theimage data to generate the text data.

At S2813, the service providing server 5 sends the text data to thesession management server 3.

At S2814, the session management server 3 sends the text data to theinformation processing apparatus 2.

At S2815, the information processing apparatus 2 stores the text datainto a memory specified by the user request, and the operation ends.

As described above referring to FIG. 28, the user is capable ofrequesting specific image processing through the image forming apparatus1, even when neither one of the image forming apparatus 1 and theinformation processing apparatus 2 is capable of applying the specificimage processing. As long as at least one device that is capable ofapplying the specific image processing is provided on the network N, theuser may request the specific image processing.

The operation of FIG. 28 may be performed in various other ways. Forexample, at S2801, the user instruction may be input through anyapparatus other than the image forming apparatus 1, such as theinformation processing apparatus 2.

In another example, the text data may be stored in a memory provided atany desired location on the network N or any desired removable memory.

In another example, the image data to be processed may be stored in anydesired location on the network N. As long as data location informationregarding the location where the image data is stored can be obtained,the service providing server 5 may download the image data from thelocation, for example, without obtaining directly from the image formingapparatus 1.

In another example, the image data to be processed may be sent to thesession management server 3 together with the user request.

In another example, as described above referring to FIGS. 26 and 27, forexample, the specific image processing may include a plurality of imageprocessing operations that may be applied by more than one device of theservice providing server 5. In such case, the processing order may bedetermined by the image processing management apparatus 6.

Numerous additional modifications and variations are possible in lightof the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within thescope of the appended claims, the disclosure of the present inventionmay be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.

With some embodiments of the present invention having thus beendescribed, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways.Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spiritand scope of the present invention, and all such modifications areintended to be included within the scope of the present invention.

For example, elements and/or features of different illustrativeembodiments may be combined with each other and/or substituted for eachother within the scope of this disclosure and appended claims.

In one example, an image processing management apparatus may include: aregistrar to receive device information from a service providingapparatus provided on a network via the network, the device informationincluding image processing function information regarding an imageprocessing function provided by an image processing apparatus of theservice providing apparatus; a session manager to receive an imageprocessing request from a first apparatus provided on the network viathe network, the image processing request being generated by the firstapparatus according to a user instruction for applying image processingto input data to generate output data, the image processing requestincluding image processing information regarding the image processing tobe applied to the input data to generate the output data; and a servicemanager to determine whether the service providing apparatus is capableof applying the image processing specified by the image processinginformation by referring to the image processing function information togenerate a first service determination result and to generate an imageprocessing instruction when the first service determination resultindicates that the service providing apparatus is capable of applyingthe image processing specified by the image processing information tocause the service providing apparatus to apply the image processingspecified by the image processing information using the image processingfunction.

In another example, the image processing management further includes: aprocessing order manager configured to determine an order of applying aplurality of image processing operations of the image processing togenerate a processing order determination result when the serviceproviding apparatus includes a plurality of image processing apparatuseseach applying at least one of the plurality of image processingoperations of the image processing to cause the service providingapparatus to apply the plurality of image processing operationsaccording to the order specified by the processing order determinationresult.

In another example, according to the above-described image processingmanagement apparatus, the session manager may further receive an imagetransfer request from the first apparatus via the network, the imagetransfer request being generated by the first apparatus according to auser instruction for transferring the output data to a second apparatusprovided on the network, and send a session start instruction to atleast one of the first apparatus, the second apparatus, and the serviceproviding apparatus via the network to cause at least two of the firstapparatus, the second apparatus, the service providing apparatus, andthe image processing management apparatus to establish a session, theoutput data being transferred to the second apparatus after the sessionis established.

In another example, according the above-described image processingmanagement apparatus, when the service providing apparatus includes animage forming apparatus that provides an image forming function, thedevice information being received by the registrar further includes dataformat information regarding a data format interpretable by the imageforming apparatus. The session manager may further receive an imageforming request from the first apparatus via the network, with the imageforming request being generated by the first apparatus according to auser instruction for forming an image of the output data generated fromthe input data. The service manager may further determine whether theimage forming apparatus is capable of interpreting the data format of atleast one of the input data and the output data by referring to the dataformat information to generate a second service determination result,and generate an image forming instruction when the second servicedetermination result indicates that the image forming apparatus iscapable of interpreting the data format of at least one of the inputdata and the output data.

In another example, according to the above-described image processingmanagement apparatus, the service manager may further determine whetherthe image processing apparatus is capable of converting the data formatof at least one of the input data and the output data to generate athird service determination result when the second service determinationresult indicates that the image forming apparatus is not capable ofinterpreting the data format. The session manager may further send animage processing instruction to the image processing apparatus via thenetwork when the third service determination result indicates that theimage processing apparatus is capable of converting the data format.

In another example, according to the above-described image processingmanagement apparatus, the device information may further include postprocessing function information regarding a post processing functionprovided by the image forming apparatus. The image forming request mayfurther include post processing information regarding post processing tobe applied to a sheet having the image being formed thereon. The servicemanager may further determine whether the image forming apparatus iscapable of applying post processing specified by the post processinginformation by referring to the post processing function information togenerate a fourth service determination result, and generate a postprocessing instruction when the fourth service determination resultindicates that the image forming apparatus is capable of applying thepost processing to cause the image forming apparatus to apply the postprocessing.

In another example, according to the image processing managementapparatus, the session manager may further send a notice via the networkto the first apparatus when the fourth service determination resultindicates that the image forming apparatus is not capable of applyingthe post processing.

In another example, the image processing management apparatus mayfurther include: a storage to store user authentication informationregarding a user of the image processing system; and an authenticationmanager to determine whether user authentication information beingreceived by the register from the first apparatus matches the userauthentication information being stored to generate an authenticationdetermination result. The session manager may further accept the imageprocessing request from the first apparatus when the authenticationdetermination result indicates that the user authentication informationbeing received matches the user authentication information being stored.

In another example, an information processing apparatus may include: auser interface to interact with a user; a session manager to receiveimage processing function information from an image processingmanagement apparatus provided on a network via the network; an imageprocessing information manager to manage the image processing functioninformation received from the image processing management apparatus; anda user interface manager to generate a first screen including the imageprocessing function information and to cause the user interface todisplay the first screen. The user interface may receive a userinstruction from the user for applying image processing to input data togenerate output data, being selected from the image processing functioninformation included in the first screen.

In another example, according to the above-described informationprocessing apparatus, when the image processing function information atthe image processing management apparatus is updated, the sessionmanager receives the updated image processing function information. Theuser interface manager further updates the screen to be displayedthrough the user interface from the first screen to a second screen,with the second screen including the updated image processing functioninformation.

In another example, the above-described information processing apparatusmay further include a network interface provided with a first port forsignaling communication and a second port for data communication. When asession is established, for example, with another apparatus on thenetwork according to a session start instruction received from the imageprocessing management apparatus via the first port, the session managermay further open the second port to receive the output data from theoutside apparatus via the second port.

Further, as described above, any one of the above-described and othermethods of the present invention may be embodied in the form of acomputer program stored in any kind of storage medium. Examples ofstorage mediums include, but are not limited to, flexible disk, harddisk, optical discs, magneto-optical discs, magnetic tapes, nonvolatilememory cards, ROM (read-only-memory), etc.

Alternatively, any one of the above-described and other methods of thepresent invention may be implemented by ASIC, prepared byinterconnecting an appropriate network of conventional componentcircuits or by a combination thereof with one or more conventionalgeneral purpose microprocessors and/or signal processors programmedaccordingly.

1. An image processing system, comprising: a first apparatus provided ona network and configured to generate an image processing requestaccording to a user instruction for applying image processing to inputdata to generate output data, the image processing request includingimage processing information regarding the image processing to beapplied to the input data to generate the output data; a serviceproviding apparatus provided on the network, the service providingapparatus including an image processing apparatus configured to providean image processing function; and an image processing managementapparatus provided on the network, the image processing managementapparatus comprising: a registrar configured to receive deviceinformation from the service providing apparatus via the network, thedevice information including image processing function informationregarding the image processing function provided by the image processingapparatus of the service providing apparatus; a session managerconfigured to receive the image processing request from the firstapparatus via the network; and a service manager configured to determinewhether the service providing apparatus is capable of applying the imageprocessing specified by the image processing information by referring tothe image processing function information to generate a first servicedetermination result, and to generate an image processing instructionwhen the first service determination result indicates that the serviceproviding apparatus is capable of applying the image processingspecified by the image processing information, wherein the imageprocessing apparatus of the service providing apparatus is furtherconfigured to apply the image processing specified by the imageprocessing information using the image processing function to generatethe output data, according to the image processing instruction generatedby the image processing management apparatus.
 2. The image processingsystem of claim 1, wherein the image processing apparatus of the serviceproviding apparatus includes a plurality of image processing apparatuseseach applying at least one of a plurality of image processing operationsof the image processing, wherein the image processing managementapparatus further comprises: a processing order manager configured todetermine an order of applying the plurality of image processingoperations to generate a processing order determination result, andwherein the image processing apparatus of the service providingapparatus is further configured to apply the plurality of imageprocessing operations according to the order specified by the processingorder determination result.
 3. The image processing system of claim 1,wherein the first apparatus further generates an image transfer requestaccording to a user instruction for transferring the output data to asecond apparatus provided on the network, wherein the session manager ofthe image processing management apparatus is further configured to senda session start instruction to at least one of the first apparatus, thesecond apparatus, and the service providing apparatus, and wherein atleast two of the first apparatus, the second apparatus, the serviceproviding apparatus, and the image processing management apparatus isfurther configured to establish a session when the session startinstruction is received by the at least one of the first apparatus, thesecond apparatus, and the service providing apparatus, the output databeing transferred to the second apparatus after the session isestablished.
 4. The image processing system of claim 1, wherein theservice providing apparatus further includes an image forming apparatusconfigured to provide an image forming function, the device informationbeing received by the registrar of the image processing managementapparatus further includes data format information regarding a dataformat interpretable by the image forming apparatus, wherein the firstapparatus is further configured to generate an image forming requestaccording to a user instruction for forming an image of the output datagenerated from the input data, and to send the image forming request tothe image processing management apparatus via the network, wherein, whenthe image forming request is received by the session manager of theimage processing management apparatus, the service manager of the imageprocessing management apparatus is further configured to determinewhether the image forming apparatus is capable of interpreting the dataformat of at least one of the input data and the output data byreferring to the data format information to generate a second servicedetermination result, and to generate an image forming instruction whenthe second service determination result indicates that the image formingapparatus is capable of interpreting the data format of at least one ofthe input data and the output data, and wherein the image formingapparatus is further configured to form the image of the output dataaccording to the image forming instruction.
 5. The image processingsystem of claim 4, wherein the service providing apparatus is furtherconfigured to store the output data to which the image processing isapplied in a storage provided on the network, wherein the servicemanager of the image processing management apparatus is furtherconfigured to generate a data obtaining instruction, the data obtaininginstruction including data location information regarding the locationof the storage on the network, and wherein the session manager isfurther configured to send the data obtaining instruction to at leastone of the first apparatus and the image forming apparatus to cause theat least one of the first apparatus and the image forming apparatus toobtain the output data using the data location information.
 6. The imageprocessing system of claim 4, wherein the service manager of the imageprocessing management apparatus is further configured to generate a datatransfer instruction to cause the service providing apparatus to sendthe output data to at least one of the first apparatus, the imageprocessing management apparatus, and the image forming apparatus.
 7. Theimage processing system of claim 4, wherein the service manager of theimage processing management apparatus is further configured to determinewhether the image processing apparatus is capable of converting the dataformat of at least one of the input data and the output data to be thedata format interpretable by the image forming apparatus to generate athird service determination result when the second service determinationresult indicates that the image forming apparatus is not capable ofinterpreting the data format, wherein the session manager of the imageprocessing management apparatus is further configured to generate a dataconversion instruction when the third service determination resultindicates that the image processing apparatus is capable of convertingthe data format, and wherein the image processing apparatus is furtherconfigured to apply data conversion according to the data conversioninstruction being generated by the image processing managementapparatus.
 8. The image processing system of claim 4, wherein the deviceinformation further includes post processing function informationregarding a post processing function provided by the image formingapparatus, wherein the first apparatus is further configured to generatea post processing request according to a user instruction for applyingpost processing to a sheet having the image of the output data thereon,the post processing request including post processing informationregarding post processing to be applied to the sheet, wherein, when thepost processing request is received by the session manager of the imageprocessing management apparatus, the service manager of the imageprocessing management apparatus is further configured to determinewhether the image forming apparatus is capable of applying postprocessing specified by the post processing information by referring tothe post processing function information to generate a fourth servicedetermination result and to generate a post processing instruction whenthe fourth service determination result indicates that the image formingapparatus is capable of applying the post processing, and wherein theimage forming apparatus is further configured to apply the postprocessing according to the post processing instruction.
 9. The imageprocessing system of claim 8, wherein the session manager of the imageprocessing management apparatus is further configured to send a noticevia the network to the first apparatus when the fourth servicedetermination result indicates that the image forming apparatus is notcapable of applying the post processing.
 10. The image processing systemof claim 4, wherein the device information further includes devicestatus information regarding a current status of the service providingapparatus, and wherein the service manager of the image processingmanagement apparatus is further configured to determine whether theservice providing apparatus is ready for applying the image processingor the image forming by referring to the device status information. 11.The image processing system of claim 4, wherein the device informationfurther includes supply information indicating whether the image formingapparatus has sufficient supply for image forming, and wherein theservice manager of the image processing management apparatus is furtherconfigured to determine whether the image forming apparatus is ready forforming the image of the output data when the session manager receivesthe image forming request by referring to the supply information. 12.The image processing system of claim 4, wherein the registrar of theimage processing management apparatus is further configured to receiveuser authentication information from the first apparatus, and whereinthe image processing management apparatus further comprises: a storageconfigured to store user authentication information regarding a user ofthe image processing system; and an authentication manager configured todetermine whether the user authentication information being received bythe registrar from the first apparatus matches the user authenticationinformation being stored in the storage to generate an authenticationdetermination result, wherein the session manager of the imageprocessing management apparatus is further configured to accept theimage processing request from the first apparatus when theauthentication determination result indicates that the userauthentication information being received matches the userauthentication information being stored.
 13. The image processing systemof claim 12, wherein the image processing management apparatus isfurther configured to send the user authentication information to theimage forming apparatus via the network when the authenticationdetermination result indicates that the user authentication informationbeing received matches the user authentication information being stored,and wherein the image forming apparatus further comprises: a storageconfigured to store the user authentication information being receivedfrom the image processing management apparatus, the user authenticationinformation being used for communication with the first apparatus. 14.The image processing system of claim 4, wherein the first apparatus isan information processing apparatus, the information processingapparatus comprising: a user interface configured to interact with theuser; a session manager configured to receive the image processingfunction information from the image processing management apparatus viathe network; an image processing information manager configured tomanage the image processing function information received from the imageprocessing management apparatus; and a user interface manager configuredto generate a screen including the image processing function informationand to cause the user interface to display the screen, wherein the userinterface is further configured to receive a user instruction from theuser for applying image processing to input data to generate outputdata, the image processing being selected from the image processingfunction information included in the screen.
 15. A method of managing animage processing system, the method comprising: receiving deviceinformation from a service providing apparatus provided on a network viathe network, the device information including image processing functioninformation regarding an image processing function provided by an imageprocessing apparatus of the service providing apparatus; receiving animage processing request from a first apparatus provided on the networkvia the network, the image processing request being generated by thefirst apparatus according to a user instruction for applying imageprocessing to input data to generate output data, the image processingrequest including image processing information regarding the imageprocessing to be applied to the input data to generate the output data;determining whether the service providing apparatus is capable ofapplying the image processing specified by the image processinginformation by referring to the image processing function information togenerate a first service determination result; and generating an imageprocessing instruction when the first service determination resultindicates that the service providing apparatus is capable of applyingthe image processing specified by the image processing information tocause the service providing apparatus to apply the image processingspecified by the image processing information using the image processingfunction.
 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising: determining anorder of applying a plurality of image processing operations of theimage processing to generate a processing order determination resultwhen the service providing apparatus includes a plurality of imageprocessing apparatuses each applying at least one of the plurality ofimage processing operations of the image processing to cause the serviceproviding apparatus to apply the plurality of image processingoperations according to the order specified by the processing orderdetermination result.
 17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:receiving an image transfer request from the first apparatus via thenetwork, the image transfer request being generated by the firstapparatus according to a user instruction for transferring the outputdata to a second apparatus provided on the network; and sending asession start instruction to at least one of the first apparatus, thesecond apparatus, and the service providing apparatus via the network tocause at least two of the first apparatus, the second apparatus, theservice providing apparatus, and the image processing managementapparatus to establish a session, the output data being transferred tothe second apparatus after the session is established.
 18. The method ofclaim 15, further comprising: providing an image forming apparatus tothe service providing apparatus, the device information being receivedfrom the service providing apparatus further including data formatinformation regarding a data format interpretable by the image formingapparatus; receiving an image forming request from the first apparatusvia the network, the image forming request being generated by the firstapparatus according to a user instruction for forming an image of theoutput data generated from the input data, the image forming requestincluding image data information indicating a data format of at leastone of the input data and the output data; determining whether the imageforming apparatus is capable of interpreting the data format of at leastone of the input data and the output data by referring to the dataformat information to generate a second determination result; andgenerating an image forming instruction when the second determinationresult indicates that the image forming apparatus is capable ofinterpreting the data format of at least one of the input data and theoutput data to cause the image forming apparatus to form the image ofthe output data.
 19. An image processing apparatus, comprising: a userinterface configured to interact with a user; a session managerconfigured to receive image processing function information from animage processing management apparatus provided on a network via thenetwork; an image processing information manager configured to managethe image processing function information received from the imageprocessing management apparatus: and a user interface manager configuredto generate a screen including the image processing function informationand to cause the user interface to display the screen, wherein the userinterface is further configured to receive a user instruction from theuser for applying image processing to input data to generate outputdata, the image processing being selected from the image processingfunction information included in the screen.
 20. The image processingapparatus of claim 19, further comprising: a network interface providedwith a first port for signaling communication and a second port for datacommunication, wherein, when a session is established with an outsideapparatus according to a session start instruction received from theimage processing management apparatus via the first port, the sessionmanager is further configured to open the second port to receive theoutput data from the outside apparatus via the second port; and an imageforming device to form an image of the output data received from theoutside apparatus.